The Atlas cedar, Cedrus atlantica is a resinous species of Pinaceae originated from North Africa and well known for its noble timber. This work was conducted to assess the natural durability of its wood, to study the chemical composition of essential oil extracted from its sawdust wood and to test the bioactivity of this essential oil against four wood decaying fungi: Gloeophyllum trabeum, Oligoporus placenta, Coniophora puteana and Trametes versicolor. The assessment of natural durability of wood was conducted according to the methods described in the European standards, CEN/TS 15083-1 and NF EN 350-1. Mass losses of wood specimens, after 16 weeks of exposure to fungi attack, in laboratory test, showed that Cedrus atlantica wood is very durable to durable against wood decay fungi attack. The extraction of essential oil from sawdust by hydro-distillation yielded about 3,35% and the chemical analysis of this essential oil by GC-MS showed that E-γ-Atlantone (19,73%); E-α-Atlantone (16,86%), 5-Isocedranol (11,68%); 9-iso-Thujopsanone (4,45%); Cedranone (4,13%) and Z α-Atlantone (4,02%) were the main major identified components. The antifungal activity tested by the direct contact technique on agar medium showed a strong inhibition of wood decaying fungi, especially Gloeophyllum trabeum inhibited at 1/1000 v/v concentration.
Cedrus atlantica Manetti and Tetraclinis articulata (Vahl) Masters are a resinous species originated from North Africa and well known for their durable and noble timbers. This work was conducted to assess the relationship between natural durability of their woods, assessed in previous works by European standards NF EN 350 and CEN/TS 15083-1, and the bioactivity of essential oils extracted from these woods by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Bioassay of sawdust essential oils, conducted by direct contact technique on agar medium on four wood-decaying fungi strains, revealed strong antifungal inhibition especially by T. articulata root burl oil due to its richness in phenols. Natural durability classes of T. articulata and C. atlantica woods were then positively correlated with antifungal activity levels of their oils.
Testing environmentaly-friendly plant essential oils for their ability to protect non-durable wood against wood decay fungi is a research topic of current interest. In this study, wood preservative potential of extracts from the wood of the durable species, Tetraclinis articulata and Cedrus atlantica were assessed on non-durable maritime pine sapwood, Pinus pinaster var atlantica, after exposure to three wood decay fungi, according to the EN 113 Standard. Significant differences were observed between treatment effects of these extracts, between fungal decay levels and between oils concentrations. Overall, mean mass losses of treated wood specimens were above 8%. T. articulata root burl extract gave the best protection level for this type of wood against Gleophyllum trabeum and Rhodonia placenta but only at test concentrations above 0.1%v/v. However, efficacy levels of both extracts’ treatments, applied at the tested concentrations, were judged insufficient on the basis of the NF EN 113 standard used.
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