K. Archer et al., SCREENING OF WOOD PRESERVATIVES - COMPARISON OF THE SOIL-BLOCK, AGAR-BLOCK, AND AGAR-PLATE TESTS, Forest products journal, 45(1), 1995, pp. 86-89
Results from the soil-block, agar-block, and agar-plate tests using tw
o white-rot and two brown-rot fungi were compared. Eight commercially
available biocides encompassing inorganic and organic systems were tes
ted, with each biocide ranked according to its performance in the thre
e tests. The results indicated that the relative ability to inhibit fu
ngal growth of the different biocides is dependent on the screening te
st. Biocides can be separated on the basis of their chemistry. Fixed i
norganic preservative systems performed better in tests that employ wo
od as a substrate material. Organic systems performed well in both the
agar-plate and tests utilizing wood. The agar-plate technique gave re
sults that were generally reproducible. Each of these tests are method
ology specific, as are most biological procedures. We concluded that a
ll three tests should be considered to screen biocides.