VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Control and Pest Management

Effect of Ammonium Hydroxide on Thiamine and Available Micronutrients in Ponderosa Pine Sapwood. T. L. Amburgey, Southern Forest Experiment Station, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Gulfport, MS 39503; B. R. Johnson, Forest Products Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Madison, WI 53705. Phytopathology 68:951-954. Accepted for publication 28 November 1977. Copyright © 1978 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-68-951.

The amounts of thiamine and micronutrients available for fungal metabolism was decreased, but not rendered completely unavailable, in ponderosa pine sapwood treated with either ammonia gas or ammonium hydroxide and heated to 76.7 C. Growth of Phycomyces blakesleeanus and sporulation of Aspergillus niger were inhibited on media containing hydroxide-treated wood. This response suggested that this treatment affected other growth factors in the wood as well. Gloeophyllum trabeum grew on media containing hydroxide-treated wood. Results suggested that the increased decay resistance of alkali-treated wood may be due to factors that inhibit germination of basidiospores, not thiamine or micronutrient depletion alone.