Background: Many buildings in Egypt e.g. museums, mosques and churches,
do not possess controlled environments for minimizing the risks of
damage of wooden artifacts due to the growth of fungi. Fungal damage
usually appears as change in wood color, appearance of stains, and
sometimes deformation of wooden surfaces. In this study we focused on
the effect that some fungi exert on the properties of wooden artifacts
and evaluated the effectiveness of different concentrations of chitosan
on their protection against damage by mold fungi. Results: Samples were
collected from different monuments and environments, and fungi growing
on them were isolated and identified. The isolated Penicillium
chrysogenum , Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger strains were
used for the infestation of new pitch pine samples. The results
revealed that the lightness of samples infected with any of the tested
fungi decreased with increasing incubation times. XRD analysis showed
that the crystallinity of incubated samples treated individually with
the different concentrations of chitosan was lower than the
crystallinity of infected samples. The crystallinity index measured by
the first and the second method decreased after the first and second
months but increased after the third and fourth months. This may due to
the reducing of amorphous part by enzymes or acids produced by fungi in
wooden samples. Conclusions: The growth of fungi on the treated wood
samples decreased with increasing the concentration of chitosan. Hence,
it was demonstrated that chitosan prevented fungal growth, and its use
could be recommended for the protection of archeological wooden
artifacts