Depletion of Pentachlorophenol By Fungi

The tests reported here indicate that pentachlorophenol is subject to fungal depletion. The limited tests do not, however, permit any conclusion on the extent of the depletion of this preservative from wood in service. Twenty-seven strains of fungi, isolated partly from wood treated with fungicides, were tested for tolerance to pentachlorophenol (PCP) on malt agar. Trichoderma viride, Gliocladium viride, Cephaloascus fragrans, and Pullularia pullulans proved to be the most tolerant among the tested fungi. In soil-block tests pine sapwood blocks impregnated with sodium pentachlorophenate were exposed for 52 days to T. viride or Coniophora puteana, a fungus with relatively high sensitivity to PCP on malt Agar. Analyses of wood blocks revealed that a substantial part of the loss of PCP from wood blocks was due to fungal activity. T. viride, while penetrating into the wood without causing any appreciable weight loss, depleted 62 percent of PCP from samples containing 5.8 kg. PCP/m3. The PCP depleting activity of C. puteana equaled that of T. viride, and in addition it caused heavy weight loss of the wood.

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