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Early detection of brown-rot decay in southern yellow pine using immunodiagnostic procedures
1990 - IRG/WP 2356
Immunodiagnostic procedures have been used to detect incipient decay of southern yellow pine by six common brown-rot fungi. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies were raised to liquid culture fractions of the six fungi. The antibodies, after preadsorption to sawdust, were tested in particle agglutination assays, immuno-dot blot, and ELISA for their·ability to detect the decay organisms when they were grow...
C A Clausen, F Green III, T L Highley


Influence of different fixation and ageing procedures on the leaching behaviour of copper from selected wood preservatives in laboratory trials
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20264
The paper focuses on the role of different parameters, such as fixation, sample size, wood species, and leaching in internationally standardized ageing procedures for wood preservatives from Europe, Japan and the United States. The leaching protocols used were EN 84, JIS K 1571 and AWPA E11 protocols. The wood species were Scots pine, Sugi and Southern Yellow Pine respectively. Three types of com...
J Habicht, D Häntzschel, J Wittenzellner


Studies on accelerated ageing procedures with TBTO-treated wood
1985 - IRG/WP 2244
The efficacy of various procedures for accelerated ageing of organotin based wood preservatives in treated wood has been investigated. It was found that leaching of the treated wood samples in water according to the European Standard EN 84 was not satisfactory for organotin based preservatives and is probably also unsuitable even for other types of organic solvent preservatives. Keeping tributylti...
J Jermer, M-L Edlund, B Henningsson, W Hintze


Correlation between different international standard assessment procedures with termites. Part 1: Field exposure
1983 - IRG/WP 1198
Ramin treated with copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA), pentachlorophenate and lindane, each at three retentions, and three other untreated timbers were assessed in the field against Coptotermes lacteus and Nasutitermes exitiosus. Replicate specimens were exposed around five mounds of each termite species over a period of five years in south-eastern Australia. The field results provided the basis for judg...
M Lenz, C D Howick, N Tamblyn, J W Creffield, M Westcott


Collaborative soft rot tests: Paper for discussion in Working Group II
1970 - IRG/WP II 5A
An account of the major part of the collaborative work on laboratory tests of toxicity of preservatives to soft rot fungi initiated by the European Homologation Committee at Delft in 1966 has been published in ‘Material und Organismen’ (1970) as a report of progress. The main objective of these collaborative tests, namely to establish a reliable and acceptable standard test method was not acco...
J G Savory, A F Bravery


A new method for the study of microbiological decay of wood in a strictly anaerobic environment
1988 - IRG/WP 2319
Recent work has suggested that strictly anaerobic bacteria may play a role in the biodeterioration of wood, particularly in aqueous environments. However, no suitable test methods exist for the investigation of this hypothesis. An aqueous minimal medium in specifically adapted conical flasks was sterilised, gassed using a 5.5% H2; 31.8% C02; 62.7% N2 gas mixture to remove oxygen and transferred to...
G M Rogers, A A W Baecker


The effect of alternative pre-conditioning procedures on the durability of wood based board materials to decay fungi
1997 - IRG/WP 97-20105
In the biological testing of wood based board materials it has been shown that exposure of boards in a closed vessel system may lead to inaccurate results due to the build up of volatile substances that inhibit the test fungi. It is thought that this is a transitory effect of freshly manufactured boards. In the European standard for testing fungal durability of board materials which is currently u...
S F Curling, R J Murphy, J K Carey


Revised South African standards for wood preservation: Protocols for approval of wood preservatives
1995 - IRG/WP 95-20072
In 1994 the South African timber treatment industry completed its revision of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Code of Practice for the preservative treatment of timber. These revisions were undertaken in parallel with changes to the SABS specifications for preservative treated timber. As a result of shortcomings in the previous wood preservative classification system which was based o...
D Conradie, P Turner, W E Conradie, A D Currie, I S J Burger


Determination of fungitoxic value of preservatives in laboratory wood-block tests. Part 1: Standard procedures
1989 - IRG/WP 2326
By applying a modified agar-block method, a comparative analysis was made on the toxic value of the wood preservative CCA against the test fungus Serpula lacrymans. The procedure applied to determine the results accounted for different standards: EN (Toxic limit), ASTM (threshold retention), GOST (threshold retention and protection probability), PN (toxic doses) and JIS (value of efficiency). Desp...
J Wazny, J D Thornton


Isolation and identification of the fungal flora in treated wood. Revised technique
1977 - IRG/WP 159
At the 8th Annual Meeting in Wildhaus a paper was presented for discussion on the isolation of fungi from treated wood.·Since then work of this nature has been undertaken at Imperial College and as a result a revision of that document has been made and is presented here. The main alterations are: 1) To streamline the isolation procedure 2) Modification of the benomyl agar 3) The inclusion of a st...
C P Clubbe, J F Levy


Comparison of laboratory tests and field experiments for the estimation of emissions from treated wood
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50224-6
The authorisation procedure for biocidal products according to the European Biocides Direc¬tive in¬cludes the assessment of possible environmental risks by the emission of ac¬tive ingre¬dients. This needs an input of data on the expected emissions of biocides into environmental com¬part¬ments. The procedures for the estimation of these emissions should be harmonised. La¬boratory test proceÂ...
U Schoknecht


Field test of wood preservatives with Nasutitermes rippertii RAMBUR in Cuba
1996 - IRG/WP 96-10181
A field test of wood preservatives was carried out with Nasutitermes rippertii RAMBUR in the vicinity of the Material Testing Centre „Alexander von Humboldt" in Santiago de las Vegas/ Havana (Cuba) for 12 and 24 months. Test specimens of Pinus sylvestris L., Picea abies (L.) Karst. and Fagus sylvatica L. with dimensions of 25 x 25 x 490 mm³ were arranged vertically or horizontally in a circle o...
W Unger


Soft-rot testing. Memo to CEN
1983 - IRG/WP 2206 A
1. Development of a single test procedure to assess performance of preservatives against soft rot fungi is an ideal that cannot be realised at present, if results are to be both reproducible between laboratories and pertinent to the practical requirements of individual countries. 2. Consensus opinion amongst members of Sub Group I - Soft rot tests, of Working Group II - Fundamentals of Testing, of the IRG, is that the immediate needs of CEN would be best answered by: (a) a code of recommended practice, (b) a multiplicity of test procedures, and (c) a degree of flexibility in test procedures. 3. The code of recommended practice should recognise the need for: (a) a pure culture, synthetic medium (sand or vermiculite + nutrients), single wood species test to be adopted by all laboratories as a common reference point of testing, (b) mixed inoculum and/or unsterile soil laboratory or fungus cellar tests which account for local variations in the fungal flora, (c) incorporation of a range of wood species where applicable (i.e. where mixed hardwoods comprise the main resource), (d) provision of local internal standards of known performance under field conditions, (e) incorporation of leaching procedures other than standard methods with deionized water (e.g. mild acid, milk alkali, ionic solutions of various salts) where applicable to local exposure conditions, (f) precise definition of the criteria used for establishing toxic thresholds (mass loss, strength loss, microscopic examination). 4. Initial screening tests should remain the province of the individual research worker. 5. The code of recommended practice should have the sole purpose of establishing provisional retention levels for subsequent confirmation by field trial. 6. IRG should list and approve test procedures considered adequate to establish toxic thresholds for preservatives against soft rot fungi. 7. It should be clearly understood that when using a series of test techniques, it is inevitable that a range of toxic thresholds will be obtained for the same preservative. 8. Guidelines should be drawn up for interpretation of test data for subsequent transformation to provisional retention levels. 9. Adoption of the broad principles outlines above is recognition of the dynamic nature of toxic thresholds. The additional information obtained by a more flexible, and complex, approach to testing may make interpretation more difficult but should provide data from which response of preservatives to varying biological and environmental hazards can be more realistically assessed. 10. It is recommended that CEN adopt, in principle, the basic philosophy of testing outlined above and move towards formulation of a Working Document in collaboration with IRG
J A Butcher, D J Dickinson


The use of organic wood preservatives in ground contact and the suitability of laboratory test procedures to determine their efficacy
1999 - IRG/WP 99-20175
Organic fungicides, such as propiconazole, have proven to be highly effective when used as a co-biocide in recently developed wood preservative formulations. They have however been ineffective when used as a stand alone preservative, particularly when used in ground contact (European Hazard class 4). Previous research, using the test methods of ENV 807 (1993), provided conflicting evidence regardi...
I J Herring, D J Dickinson


The extraction of boron from treated wood for quantitative analysis: A comparison of procedures
1992 - IRG/WP 92-2414
The extraction of boron preservative from treated rubberwood and scots pine samples was compared using methods based on refluxing and extraction in 1N NaOH or distilled water at 80°C. The extract solutions were analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma spectroscopy (ICP/AES). A simple extraction procedure based on immersion of wood samples of approximate dimension 2 x 1 x 1 cm³ in distilled water a...
R J Murphy, D J Dickinson, P W McCormack, M K Lung


Wood Decay Research Using Molecular Procedures, What Can It Tell Us?
2008 - IRG/WP 08-10678
There are many unanswered questions in wood decay and protection research, and no single research technique will ever answer all of these questions. The process of wood decay is a very complex series of biochemical and chemical reactions that are heavily influenced by the hundreds of bacterial and fungal species found on environmental samples of wood. There are a variety of molecular techniques b...
S V Diehl, M. L Prewitt, Young-Min Kang, L Mangum, J D Tang


Third Party Quality Control and Laboratory Procedures in the United States
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20430
With over 5 billion treated board feet produced in the United States each year, there is a need for an established set of Quality Control and Laboratory procedures for independent agencies. These QC procedures ensure retailer and consumers that treated wood products have met conformance standards. These procedures provide treating facilities with guidelines on the production and service of treated...
C Barber, T Greer


The Impact of Cryopreservation Techniques and of Water Quality on the Wood Degrading Ability of Fungal Strains: Recommendations for Maintenance and Culturing Procedures
2018 - IRG/WP 18-20636
In order to establish an optimal cryopreservation method, strains of Basidiomycete and Ascomycete fungi, which are among the most frequently used for wood durability testing, were evaluated using three cryopreservation procedures at -80°C. The main objective was to prevent decrease of the fungal virulence that may occur due to repeated routine sub-culturing procedures and to optimize the reactiva...
A Stum, M Montibus, I le Bayon, M Kutnik


Development of procedures for sampling, testing, and classification to determine the biological durability of wood and wood products
2020 - IRG/WP 20-20676
This paper informs about a research project, which deals with several shortcomings and a lack of clarity within EN 350:2016. The project started in January 2020, will run for 3 years, and is operated by the Institute of Wood Technology Dresden (IHD) and the University of Goettingen (UGOE). Determination and classification of durability of wood and wood products against wood-destroying organisms ...
W Scheiding, K Jacobs, S Bollmus, C Brischke