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.

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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.

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