In September 2007 AppliChem has started to look at the problems and causes of the microbial contamination of reed roofs. Starting from the technology used in DNA-ExitusPlus™ based on multiBIND’s bioDECONT® we tried to destroy the DNA of the microbes, which cause the digest of the reed. First trials looked very promising.

Highly contaminated reed from infected roofs was placed on sterile filter paper which you can see on the left side of the image. The contaminated reed on the right side was treated with bioDECONT®-reed. In addition to that the paper was soaked with a water extract of the contaminated reed. The main component of the contamination is a fungus forming a white mycel. After 4 weeks you can observe that the untreated portion is totally covered by the mycelium, whereas the treated one did neither show any fungal growth nor any other microorganism.

Furthermore, we determined the cellulase activity. Cellulase might be a major compound responsible for the degradation of the reed. It has been shown that the cellulase activity can be correlated with  the actual condition of the reed. Even in reed without visible damages one can find different cellulase activities. This could be related to a microbial preload depending on the origin of the reed.

Some further experiments have shown that the treatment with bioDECONT®-reed reagent did not only destroy the microorganisms but also the cellulase activity. This is of special interest: if you tread the reed with traditional biocides, the cellulase activity will remain and might still degrade the reed.

Right now we started a field trial with a roof treated in October 2008 – first results are expected in the second quarter of 2009.