Natural durable wood species are those which exhibit innate tolerance to wood decay organisms such as fungi and termites. The goal of this study was to evaluate 4 wood species (Dalbergia sissoo, Cedrus deodara, Morus alba and Pinus roxburghii) from Pakistan in order to determine their resistance to both a model brown (Postia placenta) and white (Trametes versicolor) rot fungus compared to a durable reference species (Tectonis grandis). In a 12 week soil bottle test, C. deodara and M. alba were found to be resistant to decay, D. sissoo was moderately resistant and P. roxbughii was non-resistant. This resistance was greatly reduced when blocks were leached with a series of solvents. When a non-durable species was treated with extractives from these species, decay resistance did not improve against either brown or white rot test fungi.

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