Biological control of the dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans
type: CreativeWork
description: Serpula lacrymans causes wood decay, which is of major economic importance in many areas of the world and in the U.K. alone £400 million pounds worth of damage is caused on an annual basis. Conventional treatment regimes for wood decay caused by the wood decay basidiomycete Serpula lacrymans involve the removal of infected timber, the removal of non-infected timber around the infection site and the use of powerful fungicides. Depending upon the scale of the infection the treatment can be expensive and misidentification of the fungus causing the decay is not unknown. Health and environmental problems can arise with the use of the fungicides and removal of timber, in particular that of historical or artistic value, is not always desirable. Biological control of wood decay fungi has been proposed for a number of years and previous investigations have indicated that control of decay fungi is possible. However, there were a number of problems reported, in particular, the extrapolation of the laboratory work into the field situation. It has been shown that Trichoderma isolates are antagonistic towards S. lacrymans on several media types and wood, with wood colonised initially by Trichoderma isolates resistant to infection by S.lacrymans. Screening experiments, carried out on different media and wood, provided a Trichoderma isolate that would be used in the medium-scale and field trial experiments. The screening experiments indicated that nutrient composition is important for the effectiveness of the Trichoderma isolates, with a high nitrogen level increasing the antagonistic effectiveness. Through the development of a small scale wood interaction system it was determined that certain Trichoderma isolates could prevent the decay of wood by S.lacrymans. However, the S.lacrymans developed specialised hyphal structures (strands) to bypass the Trichoderma colonised portions of the wood. The medium-scale and field trial experiments indicated that Trichoderma could be used to pr…
abstract: Serpula lacrymans causes wood decay, which is of major economic importance in many areas of the world and in the U.K. alone £400 million pounds worth of damage is caused on an annual basis. Conventional treatment regimes for wood decay caused by the wood decay basidiomycete Serpula lacrymans involve the removal of infected timber, the removal of non-infected timber around the infection site and the use of powerful fungicides. Depending upon the scale of the infection the treatment can be expensive and misidentification of the fungus causing the decay is not unknown. Health and environmental problems can arise with the use of the fungicides and removal of timber, in particular that of historical or artistic value, is not always desirable. Biological control of wood decay fungi has been proposed for a number of years and previous investigations have indicated that control of decay fungi is possible. However, there were a number of problems reported, in particular, the extrapolation of the laboratory work into the field situation. It has been shown that Trichoderma isolates are antagonistic towards S. lacrymans on several media types and wood, with wood colonised initially by Trichoderma isolates resistant to infection by S.lacrymans. Screening experiments, carried out on different media and wood, provided a Trichoderma isolate that would be used in the medium-scale and field trial experiments. The screening experiments indicated that nutrient composition is important for the effectiveness of the Trichoderma isolates, with a high nitrogen level increasing the antagonistic effectiveness. Through the development of a small scale wood interaction system it was determined that certain Trichoderma isolates could prevent the decay of wood by S.lacrymans. However, the S.lacrymans developed specialised hyphal structures (strands) to bypass the Trichoderma colonised portions of the wood. The medium-scale and field trial experiments indicated that Trichoderma could be used to pr…
author: Score, Alan
language: eng
date published: 1998-6
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:50:16Z
provider: Abertay University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Abertay Dundee