Retention of Borax Preservative and Intensity of Blue Stain Fungus Attack on Pulai (Alstonia Scholaris R.Br.) Based on Preservation Method

Pulai (Alstonia scholaris R.Br.) is a commercial wood with many important uses such as in wooden light construction, furniture, and wooden craft materials, with durability class IV-V is not durable and can easily attacked by wood attacking organisms like blue stain fungus. It is necessary to increase its durability properties through a preservation process. This study aims to determine the effect of the preservation method using borax preservative on pulai wood to the retention value and intensity of blue stain fungus attacks. Analysis of variance using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three treatments of simple preservation methods (cold immersion, dipping, and brushing) with concentration of 5% borax at 20 replication samples and continued with the LSD test at confidence level of 99%. The results showed that the preservation method had a significant effect to the retention value and intensity of blue stain fungus attack. The cold immersion method treatment gave the best results, with retention value of 0.687 kg/m3 but still could not meet the AS1604-2004 standard (0.753 kg/m3), while the intensity of blue stain fungus attack value of 11.55% was quite effective in inhibiting blue stains fungus attacks compared to other preservation treatments