Wood Decay Fungi is often not considered a serious pest of timber, but it
can become such a severe problem that structural integrity is affected. Fungi occuring on wood are epigean.
Decay fungi destroy the tree's
internal supportive or structural components its cellulose and hemicellulose
and sometimes its lignin. Decay isn't visible on the outside of the tree,
except where the bark has been cut or injured, when a cavity is present, or
when the rot fungi produce reproductive structures.
Wood decay makes trees
hazardous, because trunks and limbs become unable to support their own weight
and can fall, especially when stressed by wind, heavy rain, or other
conditions.
Most of wood decay fungi came from basiomycota. Basidiophores are exogenous spores.
Wood decay fungi have four
basic requirements for growth:
- Oxygen
- Water
- Suitable
Temperature
- Food
Source - the timber
Wood Decaying Fungi consists of two types:
White rot fungi
Wood attacked
by a white rot looks completely different to attack by a brown rot: The wood
takes on a 'fibrous appearance and tends to go slightly lighter in color ( this
may not be too noticeable). There is no cuboidal cracking as in the brown rots.
Tend to be more common in hardwood
Brown rot fungi
Brown rots cause the
wood to crack in a cuboidal manner; the wood also goes slightly darker in
color. The 'cubes' may vary
in size depending on the wood and conditions, but they are generally very
visible and distinct especially as the wood dries.
Fungi is lack of chlorophyll. Thus it can undergo photosynthesis. Due to that it feeds off of the cells from the woods.
The
process involved in the decaying of the wood is
breaking down complex chemical compound (Cellulose and Lignin)
Soft Rot Fungi
