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Research article2017Peer reviewed

Does copper tolerance provide a competitive advantage for degrading copper treated wood by soft rot fungi?

Karunasekera, Hasanthi; Terziev, Nasko; Daniel, Geoffrey

Abstract

The ability of soft rot fungi possessing strong (Phialophora malorum), medium (Phialophora mutabilis) and poor copper tolerance (Chaetomium globosum) to degrade untreated and CuSO4 and micronized copper treated birch- and pine wood was assessed using ENV 807 standard tests. The aim was to determine whether an ability to grow on Cu-agar and copper in liquid cultures can be transcribed into a competitive advantage to degrade Cu-treated wood. An ability to tolerate high copper levels in-vitro was not correlated with increased decay by the fungi but rather reflected the native chemistry of the wood cell walls. Both untreated and Cu-treated wood were degraded by the three fungi and showed aggressiveness in the order C. globosum > P.mutabilis > P.malorum. Higher mass loss was recorded for birch than pine and decreased progressively as the copper loadings increased with statistically insignificant difference noted between Cu-treatments. Microscopy showed decay at the cell wall level to reflect degree of lignification with parenchyma cells degraded first in both untreated and Cu-treated wood. Results indicate presence of copper and its toxicity is unlikely to be the main reason for preventing soft rot decay of wood but rather the additive effect of copper binding to the wood material.

Keywords

Copper tolerance; Soft rot fungi; Phialophora spp.; ENV 807; Copper treated wood; Soft rot decay

Published in

International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation
2017, Volume: 117, pages: 105-117

      SLU Authors

    • Karunasekera, Hasanthi

      • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

      • Terziev, Nasko

        • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

        • Daniel, Geoffrey

          • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

        Associated SLU-program

        SLU Plant Protection Network

        UKÄ Subject classification

        Wood Science

        Publication identifier

        DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2016.12.006

        Permanent link to this page (URI)

        https://res.slu.se/id/publ/78296