This research aimed to evaluate the natural resistance of teak wood (Tectona grandis) to xylophagous fungi and termites in laboratory conditions. It was used trees with fifteen years old, from a plantation of the Forest Enterprise Celulose Nipo Brasileira - CENIBRA S.A., located in Belo Oriente, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. To determine the natural resistance of teak wood in laboratory were employed the Postia placenta, Neolentinus lepideus, Polyporus fumosus and Fomes connatus fungi and to termites resistance was employed the feeding preference assay with subterranean termites Nasutitermes sp. Samples were taken from four positions in the stem (heartwood near the pith, heartwood intermediate, outer heartwood and sapwood) at 1,30m to soil level and submitted to the action of fungi for thirteen weeks and termites for 45 days. It was found that the heartwood of teakwood from the Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais State, Brazil was highly resistant. The internal heartwood was less resistant than the other portions of the heartwood to action of wood decay agents, while the sapwood was classified as moderately resistant (Polyporus fumosus) or resistant (Postia placenta and Neolentinus lepideus).
teak wood; termites; fungi; natural durability
