Wood in outdoor applications is prone to fungal decay if the environmental conditions are favourable for the fungi. Key parameters for fungal growth, activity, and decay potential are wood temperature and wood moisture content (MC). As a rule of thumb, fungal decay does not occur below cell wall saturation (i.e. 25-35 % MC) since fungi require free water for transporting their extracellular enzymes. However, different authors reported lower moisture thresholds (Stienen et al. 2014, Meyer and Brischke 2015), but also about methodical parameters that affect the determination of threshold values for fungal decay (Brischke et al. 2017). Besides wood temperature, fungal species, and the constancy of conditions, the time of incubation with living fungal mycelium itself may affect the minimum moisture threshold (MMThr) for fungal decay. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the MMThr for fungal decay depending on the incubation time for one very durable and one non-durable wood species.
Keywords: Fungal decay, minimum moisture threshold, pile tests
Authors
Christian Brischke
Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Hamburg, Germany
Philip B van Niekerk
University of Goettingen, Wood Biology and Wood Products, Goettingen, Germany
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