Assessment on the durability of chemically treated Gigantochloa Scortechinii in accelerated unsterile soil laboratory tests

• Main Authors: Razak Wahab, Shafiqur Rahman, Othman Sulaiman, Mohd Sukhairi Mat Rasat
• Format: Non-Indexed Article
• Published: AENSI 2013
• Online Access: http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7875/; http://www.aensiweb.com/jasr/jasr/2013/2526-2530.pdf
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

Cultivated 2 and 4 years old Gigantochloa scortechinii culms of internodes 6, 7, and 8, were chemically treated with ammoniacal-copper-quaternary (ACQ), borax-boric acid (BBA) and copper-chrome arsenate (CCA) at 1, 2, 4 and 8% concentrations respectively. Three different methods of chemical treatment were introduced to the bamboo through soaking, vacuum impregnation and high pressure sap-displacement process. An accelerated eight weeks laboratory unsterile soil burial tests were then carried out on the bamboo samples. At the completion of the testing period, the 2 year-old G. scortechinii were found to experience higher weight loss compared to the 4 year-old as the results of the attack by decay fungi. Comparison between the treatment processes showed that the vacuum pressure treated bamboos experienced lower weight loss. The 4% preservatives solution strength was found to be sufficient in controlling the decay fungi in the bamboos.