Performance of bamboo treated with environmentally sound anti-mould chemicals

Key words: 
• forest engineering /
• bamboo /
• anti-mould chemical /
• mould prevention

Abstract: In order to develop a highly effective environmentally sound anti-mould agents for bamboo，four low-toxic anti-mould chemicals including UD （active ingredient：Didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride），GM（active ingredient：2-（Thiocyanatomethylthio） benzothiazole），DCM （active ingredient：2-Methyl-4-Isothiazolin-3-one） and SMR （active ingredient：Isothiazolinones and 1，2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one etc.） were tested for their anti-mould efficacy on three bamboos Bambusa eutuldoides，Phyllostachys pubescens，and Arundinaria amabilis respectively，in comparision with conventional highly toxic anti-mould agent PCP-Na （sodium pentachlorophenate） which has been banned. The test results showed that the efficecy of anti-mould chemicals decreased with the lapse of exposure time，and treated bamboo with high retention of anti-mould chemicals performed better than that with lower retention. There were differences in mould prevention among anti-mould chemicals，and SMR，UD and PCP-Na performed better than GM and DCM after exposure for 8 - 12 weeks，and after exposure for 6 months，treated bamboo with environmentally sound anti-mould agent SMR was similar to that with highly toxic anti-mould agent PCP-Na，still kept very good performance in mould prevention，while teated bamboo with other three anti-mould chemicals were hardly mildewproof. Three species of bamboo performed also differently in mould resistance，among A. amabilis was the best，followed by Ph. pubescens and B. eutuldoides respectively.［Ch，4 tab. 11 ref.］