Protection of bamboo by environment-friendly chemicals against short-term molding TangThi Kim Hong 1,2, Olaf Schmidt 1,Walter Liese 1 1 Center of Wood Science, University of Hamburg, Germany 2 Nong Lam University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The World Bamboo Congress VIII

Background Especially, exposed bamboo material during storage, processing, transport in container and its final use is affected by molds Molds can grow on the surface and at the cross- ends of culms in a humid atmosphere as they require high relative humidity above 70%

Fig. 1a Moulded bamboo culms and materials at a Bamboo factory, Vietnam Molded fresh culms five days after haversting Molded dried culms during storage Surface of a table exposed by molds Molded dried culms during processing

Fig 1b. Molded bamboo culms at arrival in Hamburg after container transport from Vietnam

For protection of wood and bamboo against molds and other fungi, pentachlorophenol had been widely used Pentachlorophenol is banned due to its high toxicity in many parts of the world as well as in Vietnam Bamboo manufacturers have pressing problems to protect bamboo for home use and export Manufacturers greatly need cost-effective but also environment-friendly treatment methods Background

Objective the preventing effect of organic acids (applied for food and as antiseptica) the additional protective effect of their low pH-value against microorganisms + for bamboo short-term protection against molding

Material and Methods Samples preparation From the fresh culms with MC 100 to 120%, samples of 70 mm length were taken halfway between the internodes and longwise split. Bamboo Specimens Bamboo species Bambusa stenostachya Hackel and Thyrostachys siamensis Gamble (two of the important species of Vietnam) were selected for testing

Chemicals

 The molds used were isolated from bamboo at the Nong Lam University of Ho chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Traditional identification and DNA-ITS sequencing revealed: Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. oryzae, Aspergillus sp., Paecilomyces variotii and Penicillium sp. Fungi

Fig. 2 Specimens in plastic basins for mold protection test Two specimens of the two bamboo species were dipped 5 min. in the respective treatment solution and placed in a small plastic basin Treatment

Incubation and Inoculation Test series 1: artificial infection with a water- based mixture of conidia of the molds was performed with a small brush (`artificial infection´) Test series 2: contained the molds from the natural flora of the bamboo plants and from the sample processing (`natural mold flora´)

Assessment of Mold Growth

Results

Fig. 3 View on the artificially infected and differently treated bamboo specimens after 8 weeks of incubation

10% acetic acid 7%propionic acid the mixture of 3% boric acid + 7% propionic acid 10%propionic acid. prevented mold growth totally over the whole incubation period of 8 weeks The treatments with The effective formulations Results

The ineffective formulations all other treatments allowed severe (rating 3) or very severe (rating 4) mold growth after the first week and very severely overgrown after the two weeks. Results

10% Na-acetate 7% Na-propionate 10% Na-propionate ineffective efficacy of anti-mold pH valueformulation 10% acetic acid 7% propionic acid 10% propionic acid effective aicd pH value, alkaline pH value Results

No significant differences in final molding (after 8 weeks) between the test series `artificial infection´ and `natural mold flora´ Both bamboo species behaved rather similar regarding mold susceptibility and prevention Further results

Conclusions  The laboratory experiments have shown that molding of bamboo can be prevented by simple treatment with environment-friendly chemicals  Treatment of bamboo samples with acetic acid, propionic acid and a mixture with boric acid prevented mold growth for 8 weeks  The other chemicals were less effective or ineffective  The protection was related to the pH value of the treatment solution. The acetic and propionic acid had protective effect, their salts did not

Experiments with the effective formulations will be continued under field conditions in Vietnam with larger bamboo dimensions as culms, round and split, as well as handicrafts and commodities Since molding of bamboo is a serious devaluation in trade, corresponding experiments are recommended for other bamboo countries with their respective species Recommendations

Acknowledgments Bamboo Nature LTD. Company, Vietnam

Thank you for your attention!