ORIGINAL ARTICLE Anatomical changes in Syzygium cumuini Linn. wood decayed by two white rot fungi Schizophyllum commune Fries. and Flavodon flavus (Klotzsch) Ryvarden Amee Padhiar • Susy Albert Received: 26 March 2011 / Accepted: 21 June 2011 / Published online: 17 July 2011 Ó Indian Academy of Wood Science 2011 Summary The purpose of this work was to study the anatomical changes occurred in the Syzygium cumuini Linn. wood decayed by two white rot fungi Schizophyllum commune Fries. and Flavodon flavus (Klotzsch) Ryvarden. Anatomical studies have revealed that both the fungi pen- etrate the wood through pit apertures. S. commune breaks down cellulose and hemicellulose first with the lignin remaining which degrades later. F. flavus preferentially degrade lignin. Bore holes were distinctly formed in the secondary wall, breaking the fiber tracheid into radial cracks. Axial and ray parenchyma cells are degraded first followed by the lignified xylem elements, tracheids and vessels. Observation of light microscopic study has been supplemented with scanning electron microscopy. Keywords Syzygium cumuini Linn. Á White rot Á Schizophyllum commune Fries. Á Flavodon flavus (Klotzsch) Ryvarden Á Simultaneous decay Introduction Wood is one of the major lignocellulose containing com- ponent on the earth, which is not easily digested, except for few microorganisms which are known to degrade wood. Xylophagous fungi is the most relevant among them because they produce important changes on the anatomical, physical and mechanical properties of wood (Highley et al. 1994). Decay fungi are conventionally classified into three main groups. They are (i) Brown (ii) White and (iii) Soft rot fungi. Degradation by brown and soft rot fungi follows fairly consistent patterns, whereas white rot fungi induce much greater variety of degradation (Schwarze et al. 2000). Some of the white rot fungi involve in the selective breakdown of different constituents of the secondary cell wall, but many of them are also capable of degrading all cell wall constituents, even under extreme conditions such as high moisture content (Schmidt et al. 1997). Several fungi can cause a highly selective degradation of lignin in one type of wood and a simultaneous degradation in another tree species (Agosin et al.1990). The anatomy of angiospermous wood and the composition of the cell wall strongly deter- mines the pattern of degradation (Schwarze and Fink 1998; Schwarze et al. 1995). Preferential degradation by white rot fungi is often followed by more general utilization of the wood, but some species show only a limited ability to degrade certain cell types or cell wall constituents. Some of them leave the vessels of broad leaved trees largely un- dergraded, even at a relatively advanced stage of decay which has been explained to be apparently due to the high lignin: carbohydrate ratio of vessel walls, together with their morphology and the monomeric composition of their lignin (Blanchette 1988). According to Wilcox (1993) microscopical examination is the most accurate dependable means of diagnosing and evaluating wood decay. Wood of Syzygium cumuini is widely used for making furniture and plywood in the different parts of Gujarat. On having detailed conversation with the traders of the sawmill it was understood that the wooden planks obtained from these trees were provided untreated to the customers. The purpose of this work was to study the anatomical changes caused by two white rot fungi Schizophyllum commune and A. Padhiar Á S. Albert (&) Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 390 002 Vadodara, Gujarat, India e-mail: drsusyalbert@rediffmail.com A. Padhiar e-mail: amee204@yahoo.co.in 123 J Indian Acad Wood Sci (June 2011) 8(1):11–20 DOI 10.1007/s13196-011-0017-4