This research has been carried out in order to evaluate the antagonistic activita of 18 wood decay Basidiomycetes, Trichoderma hartianum and Verticillium bulbillosum against 6 Armillaria species present in Europe. Basidiomycetes have been selected in relation to their wood decay activity while the Deuteromycetes have been employed in relation to their good antagonistic activity already showed against Heterobasidion annosum. The antagonism tests have been carried out both on malt extract agar and on standard wood blocks. The kind of antagonism shown (antibiosis, competition, mycoparasitism) and the antagonist's ability to decay wood already colonised by the pathogen have been evaluated. Bjerkandera adusta, Hypholoma fasciculare, Phlebiopsis gigantea, Sistotrema brinkmannii and Trichoderma hartianum have shown the best antagonistic activity on malt agar, while only Hypholoma fasciculare and Phlebiopsis gigantea have also confirmed good antagonistic activity on wood. Moreover, results obtained suggest that the antagonism against Armillaria is based especially on spatial and trophic competition between the pathogen and the antagonist and not on antibiosis phenomena. Finally, to have more reliable and transferable data, it is necessary to verify the activity of selected fungi in forest trials, in order to foresee a possible in vivo application.
