Decay of Nondurable Softwoods By White-Rot Fungi

It is known that certain white-rot fungi show preference for wood of angiosperms. The objective of these experiments was to determine if the difference in the rate of decay of angiosperms and gymnosperms by selected white-rot fungi is due to extractive content. White pine, southern pine, Engelmann spruce, and sweetgum were extracted by various solvents and in some cases impregnated with growth nutrients before being subjected to soil block decay tests using Polyporus versicolor and Polyporus pargamenus. There is an indication that extractives may limit to a degree the decay of certain nondurable gymnosperms by white-rots. Extractives, however, do not account for the large difference in resistance between hard woods and softwoods. The factor which makes gymnosperms less susceptible to white-rots remains to be defined.

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