Biocontrol of Blue Stain in Pine Wood with Lyophilized Mycelium of Ophiostoma quercus Albino Strain

Mycelium of Ophiostoma quercus albino strain cultured in liquid culture media was harvested, lyophilized, and stored for examining biocontrol efficacy against wood discoloration by staining fungi in the laboratory and field conditions. Dry weight of mycelium grown in brown sugar yeast extract broth(BYB) showed 3.8 times higher than that grown in potato dextrose broth(PDB). The optimum culture period in BYB was 4 weeks. In vitality test of the albino strain, the lyophilized mycelium stored in liquid nitrogen($-196^{\circ}C$) or in a refrigerator($4^{\circ}C$) kept the vitality until 13 months after storage; however, the mycelium stored at room temperature lost the vitality completely after 13 months. The mycelium stored in liquid nitrogen or in a refrigerator protected wood chips from the discoloration by pretreating mycelial suspension on pine wood chips. The mycelium stored at room temperature for 7 months also showed complete protection. These results suggest that the lyophilized mycelium have a biocontrol efficacy only if it keeps the least vitality. In the field conditions, both albino strain and $Woodguard^{(R)}$(commercial chemical protectant) showed significant differences(p=0.05) in discoloration rate as compared to the non-treated control when these were treated on the wood logs of Pinus rigida. The albino strain showed better protection than $Woodguard^{(R)}$. Isolation frequency of blue stain fungi from the chips of wood logs treated with the albino strain was 0% at three months after treatment, while that treated with $Woodguard^{(R)}$ was 76.7%. In another experiment, pre-treatment of mycelial suspension on the cut surface of wood logs also showed significant protection from wood discoloration. Spraying of both albino strain on the cut surface and insecticides on the bark also showed relatively good control effects as compared to insecticide alone on the bark or nontreated control.