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Soft rot decay of Belian (Eusideroxylon zwageri) wood
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10119
The heartwood of Belian (Eusideroxylon zwageri), an East Malaysian timber species, is naturally durable due to its certain unique anatomical features and high content of extractives. The timber can tolerate years of exposure to hazardous conditions in ground contact and other situations without any significant loss in its strength. A few Belian transmission poles sampled from one locality in Saraw...
A H H Wong, A P Singh


Distinguishing isolates of Aureobasidium on the basis of their ability to utilise lignin breakdown products as a sole carbon source
1996 - IRG/WP 96-10151
Wild isolates of Aureobasidium were obtained by dilution plating from a ca 20 year old painted pine window frame. Four isolates were obtained from the paint/wood interface region and four isolated from regions deep in the wood. The isolates were then used to inoculate liquid cultures containing ferulic acid, a lignin breakdown product, present as the sole carbon source. Ability of the isolates to ...
M W Schoeman, D J Dickinson


Microbial decay of an archaeological wood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10053
A light and transmission electron microscopic investigation of an archaeological wood was undertaken to determine the cause of its deterioration. The wood came from a bulwark constructed in early 1100 in the lake Tingstäde Träsk on the island Gotland in Sweden. The samples of the wood, which was identified as Pinus sylvestris, were taken from a depth of 0.85 m below the bottom level. The wood wa...
A P Singh, T Nilsson, G F Daniel


Microscopic characteristics of microbial attacks of CCA-treated radiata pine wood
1993 - IRG/WP 93-10011
Light and electron microscopic observations were made of CCA-treated radiata timbers, which had been placed in service in a vineyard soil as supporting poles and as part of a house pile, to determine the cause of their deterioration. The house pile had failed in service after between 9 and 13 years and was of particular interest because decay was more severe in deeper regions than at the surface a...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling


Biodegradation of wood in wet environments: A review
1997 - IRG/WP 97-10217
Wood in wet environments is attacked and degraded by soft rot fungi and erosion and tunnelling bacteria, which are more tolerant to high moisture and reduced oxygen conditions than basidiomycetes, such as white and brown rot fungi. Since basidiomycetes are normally more aggressive and can degrade wood faster than soft rot fungi and bacteria wood in wet environments can survive longer. In fact, arc...
A P Singh, Yoon Soo Kim


A technique for the rapid assessment of wood surface degradation during weathering
1987 - IRG/WP 2281
Radiate pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) sapwood samples taken from four trees were converted into thin strips 100 x 10 x 0.085 (85 µm) mm³, (longitudinal x radial x tangential) in size and exposed in preweighed hatches to the weather inclined at 45° facing equatorially for 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days. Significant (P < 0.001) weight losses occurred with time over the exposure period. Differen...
P D Evans, D Abbott, S Thein


The degradation of wood by metal fastenings and fittings
1972 - IRG/WP 302
As well as the hazards of biological decay, timber used in boat building is subject to the effects of chemical decay associated with the corrosion of metallic fastenings. The title has been deliberately chosen to emphasize that in wooden construction the troubles are not just those of corrosion of the fastenings, but also the destructive secondary effects on the wood caused by the products of the ...
L C Pinion


Bacteria are important degraders of cooling tower timbers: New Zealand experience
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10128
Microscopic examinations of CCA-treated Pinus radiata timbers in industrial cooling towers in New Zealand showed bacteria and soft rot fungi to be primarily responsible for the decay of these timbers. Of these micro-organisms, erosion bacteria appeared to be most widespread, attacking wood cell walls independently as well as together with tunnelling bacteria and soft rot fungi. Tunnelling bacteria...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling


Immuno-electron microscopic localization of extracellular metabolites in spruce wood decayed by brown-rot fungus Postia placenta
1990 - IRG/WP 1441
Degradation by Postia placenta in spruce and birch wood was shown to occur not only in the wood cell wall but also in the middle lamellae region. Middle lamellae was often found to be degraded along the centerline so that cells could separate along this line. Extracellular membrane structures were found surrounding the hyphae and this matrix labelled positively with antisera produced to Postia pla...
Y S Kim, B Goodell, J Jellison


Respiration measurement of dry-rot
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10095
Methods for measuring the production of carbondioxide from wood infected with the dry-rot fungus were evaluated. By enclosing whole wood blocks and measuring the concentration of gas in the headspace by gas chromatography, an exponential increase in the concentration of CO2 was observed for at least 2 months. This technique could therefore present a method for evaluating various treatments of dry-...
L Toft


Assessment of treated wood leachates genotoxicity with a bacterial test
1997 - IRG/WP 97-50089
Genotoxicity is known as the damage caused by environmental stressors (biological, chemical and physical) on the genetic material of an organism. This toxicological effect can be assessed by a lot of biological assays and especially by bacterial tests. These tests are frequently performed on environmental samples or on pures substances and are in that case, strongly correlated to the carcinogenic ...
P Marchal, C Martin


Alternative technologies for wood wastes recycling - Part A: Supercritical extraction of PAH compounds from wood wastes
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50101-18 a
Alternative technologies have been investigated to detoxify treated wood. Two classes of organic compounds are studied. Creosote-treated wood are classified in France as dangerous wood wastes. A conventional incineration could be provided for these wood wastes but the cost of this elimination could be very high (> 2000 FFR/ton). For these reasons, we have tested two kinds of new processes as al...
L Schrive, C Perre, G Labat


Extracellular substance from the white rot basidiomycete Irpex lacteus involved in wood degradation
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1571
Cellulases, phenol oxidase, and a substance that both produced and reduced H2O2 were isolated from cultures containing wood or glucose on which the white-rot fungus Irpex lacteus was growing. The rate of wood degradation by the fungus with different amounts of glucose in the medium was measured. More of the substance that produced and reduced H2O2 was found extracellularly in cultures containing w...
H Tanaka, T Hirano, G Fuse, A Enoki


Relationship between degradation of wood, cellulose or lignin-related compounds and production of hydroxyl radical or accumulation of oxalic acid in cultures of brown-rot fungi
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10062
The degradation activities of brown rot fungi against wood, cellulose, and lignin-related compounds were measured in cultures containing glucose or wood as a carbon source. Also the activities of one-electron oxidation and hydroxyl radical production and the amount of oxalic acid present in the cultures were measured. The degradation activities of the fungi against wood, crystalline cellulose and ...
S Itakura, T Hirano, H Tanaka, A Enoki


The role of oxidation in wood degradation by brown-rot fung
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1562
Brown-rot fungi are suggested to degrade cellulose by oxidation with hydrogen radicalsformed eg. in the conversion of hydrogen peroxide in the Fenton type reactions. The stuctural changes in the holocellulose in wood induced by Fenton&apos;s reaction on wood components are very similar to those caused by brown-rot fungi. In this work the effect of the Fenton reaction on wood components was stu...
A-C Ritschkoff, J Pere, J Buchert, L Viikari


Study of the degradation caused by micro-organisms in Pinus sp. waterlogged wood
1989 - IRG/WP 1411
So far, the different Centers are trying the restoration and the conservation of wood structures, coming from subaquatic archeological deposits, with interest from the historic - artistic point of view. The main objective of this paper has been the determination of the decay level of Pinus sp. wood coming from a roman ship (approximately 2000 years old), where we have analyzed their physical prope...
M T De Troya, M C Escorial, J Garcia, A Cabanas


Effect of some resin treatments on fungal degradation reactions
1999 - IRG/WP 99-10318
The effect of impregnation of wood with vegetable oil, tall oil and two water soluble on fungal degradation reactions was assessed by hydrolysis and enzyme activity measurements. The experiments were carried out by using isolated enzyme preparations and a living brown-rot fungus Poria placenta. The results indicate that the inhibitory effect of treatments was clearly directec towards the enzymatic...
A-C Ritschkoff, M Rättö, A J Nurmi, H Kokko, A O Rapp, H Militz


Resistance of acetylated wood to biological degradation. Evaluation of field test
1997 - IRG/WP 97-30139
Acetylated wood samples were tested in ground contact (stake test) at two test fields, one in Simlångsdalen, Sweden, and one in Viikki, Finland, according to European standard EN 252. The test samples were inspected annually and their condition was compared with that of untreated controls and of samples treated with two reference CCA preservatives. The use of untreated controls and preservative t...
P Larsson Brelid, R Simonson, Ö Bergman


Differences in pH, electrical resistance, cation composition and NIR spectra of red spruce wood during early stages of brown rot degradation
2002 - IRG/WP 02-10449
Red spruce sapwood was exposed to degradation by the brown rot fungi Coniophora puteana, Postia placenta, Gloeophyllum trabeum and Serpula lacrymans for 0, 1, 2 or 3 weeks using a modified soil block assay design. Average weight losses over time ranged from 0-8.9% during this time period. Detectable changes in pH, electrical resistance and cation compostion were observed in the wood as early as 1 ...
J Jellison, S Kelley, B Goodell, D Hui, A Ostrofsky


Microbial decay in an extremely durable Malaysian hardwood Belian (Eusideroxylon zwageri) - an overview
1997 - IRG/WP 97-10216
The heartwood of Belian (Eusideroxylon zwageri) is highly regarded among the naturally durable Malaysian hardwoods, and is therefore a choice timber for soilcontact use in the humid tropics such as untreated telecommunication poles, fence posts and railway sleepers. The high microbial resistance of the wood is evidenced by the mere superficial degradation observed in some pole samples after 20 yea...
A H H Wong, A P Singh


Assessing the importance of degradation mechanisms on the loss of effectiveness of wood preservatives
2000 - IRG/WP 00-20193
Accelerated ageing systems developed for application to samples in the laboratory prior to biological tests, should reflect those natural deterioration processes that are likely to occur in the hazard classes defined in EN 335-1. Losses through evaporation or the effects of leaching have been recognised, however their importance, relative to other mechanisms has not been quantified. Degradation me...
E D Suttie, R J Orsler, T Dearling


Targeted inhibition of wood decay fungi: degradation of cotton cellulose
1999 - IRG/WP 99-10321
Brown-rot decay is responsible for 80% of the damage and replacement of wood in service. For nearly thirty years, researchers have postulated a one-electron oxidase system combining Fe+2 oxalic acid, and H2O2 in the production of hydroxy radicals which ultimately oxidize cellulose in situ. Recently, researchers have been investigating antioxicants, in combination with biocides (Schultz, et al.,199...
F Green III, T A Kuster


Deterioration of wood viewed from iron nail
1991 - IRG/WP 2368
Deterioration of nail was graded by a five - rank numerical - rating. The rating of nail moisture content and decay of wood were inspected in a mortal-wall of 34-year-old house. The wood was mostly in decay, when the rating of the nail was above about 4, and the moisture content was above about 20%. Nailed wood specimens kept in several humidity room of 20°C for 4 years showed that the rating of ...
H Imamura


Soft-rot in Tabebuia sp. wood used in water cooling tower: identification and degradation capacity of the fungi
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10253
Tabebuia sp. (ipe), a native Brazilian wood, is considered of high natural resistance to decaying fungi, and has been used in harsh environments, as cooling towers. Fifty-one fungi, belonging to mitosporic fungi group (Fungi Imperfecti), were isolated from deteriorated Tabebuia sp. wood samples, collected from the mist eliminator and packing of a cooling tower in operation for about 23 years. The ...
S Brazolin, M Tomazello, I H Schoenlein-Crusius


Ultrastructure of Prumnopitys ferruginea wood from a buried forest in New Zealand
1991 - IRG/WP 1489
The buried wood of Prumnopitys ferruginea, a New Zealand native tree, was examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy to investigate the extent to which the wood had deteriorated and the cause of its deterioration. Examinations showed that some deterioration of wood had occurred. Microscopy revealed a decay pattern similar to that produced by cavitation bacteria. Lenticular cavities ...
A P Singh, T Nilsson, G F Daniel


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