Although incipient fungal decay of wood may be difficult to detect early, it causes a significant decrease in wood strength. Developing a reliable method of decay identification to overcome wood replacement costs by non-destructive methods is necessary. This study investigates a possibility of identifying fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as means of fungal detection using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Volatile emissions from two brown rot (Gloeophyllum trabeum and Postia placenta) and two white rot (Trametes versicolor and Irpex lacteus) fungi on pine and aspen and their profiles related to wood mechanical strength and mass loss were investigated over 12 weeks. Principal component analysis of VOCs spectra differentiated volatiles from decayed and sound wood. Volatiles from two fungal species revealed distinct patterns of early and late degradation stages. SPME combined with GC-MS showed promissing results for non-destructive identification of incipient decay in wood structures.