AN ATTEMPT TO QUANTIFY RELATIVE MYCELIAL DEVELOPMENT OF PHANEROCHAETE-CHRYSOSPORIUM USING THE FLUORESCEIN DIACETATE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC ASSAY

The spectrophotometric fluorescein diacetate assay was used to quantif y viable mycelial growth of Phanerochaete chrysosporium on Pinus banks iana wood chips. Tests were conducted on inoculated nonsterile and ste rile chips with noninoculated nonsterile and sterile chips as control. Additionally, some chips were compressed to make nutrients more readi ly accessible by mechanically rupturing the wood parenchyma cells. Com parisons were made of chips heavily colonized with P. chrysosporium ag ainst chips with only scattered mold mycelium to test the effectivenes s of the fluorescein diacetate assay for this particular species. It w as found that P. chrysosporium did not produce significant hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate as compared to other resident microflora.