Moisture adsorption behaviour of rubber wood blocks decayed by each brown rot and white rot fungi was studied. The adsorption isotherms of decayed wood were compared with the isotherm of undecayed wood. The wood decayed by brown rot adsorbed less moisture as compared to sound or undecayed wood at all humidity levels. No significant difference was observed in adsorption behaviour of white rot decayed and un-decayed wood. The adsorption isotherms were analyzed using Hailwood- Horrobin model of water sorption in terms of water of hydration of wood (Mh) and dissolved water (Ms) corresponding to monolayer and multilayer adsorption respectively. The analysis suggested a significant reduction in both Mh and Ms values for brown rot decayed rubber wood suggesting the loss of number of adsorptive sites by the decay. A good agreement between experimentally obtained adsorption isotherms and with those obtained using model.

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