The Screening of Commercial Wood by Chemicals
Rajan Kumar Sahu
Madhukam, Hehal, Ranchi-5, Jharkhand, India
ABSTRACT
Commercial wood in the Jharkhand State of India is destroyed by various fungi e.g., Fomes caryophylli, Trametes lactinea, Polyporus ostreiformis, and Cubamyces cubensis, etc. which are controlled via chemical preservatives, viz., Creosote, Arsenic Copper Compound (ASCU-PS2), Zinc chloride and borax, of which creosote and borax proved most effective.
INTRODUCTION
Wood is destroyed in different ways by various types of micro-organisms. One of the most important methods is by fungi in which it infects wood and causes death and finally decay of wood tissues. Wood decaying fungi poses a great problem by causing very serious damage.
Many chemicals have been in use as wood preservatives. These preservatives are in fact metabolic poisons which may be either pure chemical compounds or a mixture of compounds. Wood preservatives have been developed to prevent or retard wood from destruction by micro-organisms, makint it resistant. Toxicity is the tool of measuing effectiveness of a preservative. This can be measured in the laboratory by raising micro-organisms in culture media containing different concentrations of preservatives. According to Hunt and Garratt (1953) toxicity is measured in terms of "inhibition point" and "killing point". The killing point represents the minimum concentration of the preservative required to kill a fungus whereas . . .
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