Hygrotermic Treatment of Chesnut Logs Infected with Cryphonectria parasitica

Abstract

Due to the reduced availability of large-sized chestnut logs in Europe, many European timber industries
currently get their supplies from non-European countries, mainly from the Caucasian region, which are often not
immune to chestnut blight. Given the high risk of introducing new virulent strains incompatible with local hypovirulent
ones, the European Union regulation requires that chestnut logs, imported from so-called “third party” nations where
Cryphonectria parasitica is present, reach the European boundaries bark free: this prevents the production of veneers,
which are highly remunerative, but whose first workmanship phases require barked logs. Following a multilevel
investigation, the authors propose a stem-flow protocol that can devitalise the parasite in barked logs while
preserving the commodity characteristics of the wood, through a fast, simple and low-cost treatment, that can be
performed at the European borders whenever C. parasitica is or might be present.