Comparison of effectiveness of wood decay fungi maintained by annual subculture on agar and stored in sterile water for 18 years.

Fourteen isolates of basidiomycete decay fungi (12 species) were maintained for 18 years on agar slants transferred annually and also stored as mycelium-agar cores under cold sterile water without subculture. Isolates stored by each method were evaluated for decay effectiveness using a standard laboratory accelerated soil-block decay test. Effectiveness was measured by mean percent mass loss of wood blocks.