A Rapid Method for Evaluating Antifungal Properties of Various Barks (Technical Note‪)‬

Abstract The composition and chemical elements of bark vary from one wood species to another. Some barks are more resistant to fungi than others. In this paper, the antifungal properties of bark from six species of wood (aspen, red maple, yellow birch, balsam fir, white spruce, and white cedar) were investigated in a simple laboratory test. Four fungi were used in the test, Aspergillus niger, Aureobasidium pullulans. Gloeophyllus trabeum, and Ipex lactenus, which represented mold, wood stain fungus, brown-rot fungus, and white-rot fungus, respectively. Based on the colony growth rates of these fungi on bark-extract-agar media, white spruce bark best inhibited growth of these fungi, followed by red maple bark. White cedar and balsam fir bark provided certain inhibitions to some of the fungi tested. Aspen and yellow birch bark had little or no inhibition to fungal growth.