Interspecies Interactions in Dual Cultures of Selected Fungi Species and Their Influence on the Decomposition of Scots Pine and Norway Spruce Wood Substrates

Article infoWood is a material that is used in many sectors of the economy, including the furniture industry and lumbering.After felling, trees are processed into appropriate sorts and transported to forestry landings.Wood substrate stored in forestry landings provides an excellent food base for fungi.The decomposition of wood by fungi leads to a decrease in the quality of the raw wood material.Therefore, research was carried out using selected cultures of fungi isolated from fruiting bodies found on pine and spruce logs collected at a landing.For this purpose, the growth of the mycelium of 10 fungi was tested in single and dual cultures.The effect of fungi on the intensity of decomposition of sawdust substrates from the sapwood and heartwood of Scots pine and Norway spruce was also examined.The results showed that fungal cultures grow at different intensities, reaching diameters that range from a minimum of 30.0 mm (as for Sparassis crispa) to a maximum of 90.0 mm (as for Phlebiopsis gigantea, Heterobasidion annosum and Phaeolus schweinitzii).The development of fungi in dual cultures showed that the cultures interact with each other in an antagonistic manner.An experiment on the decomposition of sawdust by fungi showed that its intensity depends on the sawdust type, the tree species, and the enzymatic capacity of the fungi.