Food Preference and Survival Rates of Allodontermes tenax (Isoptera: Termitidea)

and find Some and a of and were in for involved and survival rates on maize cob husks on loam soil; maize stalk on loam soil; eucalyptus wood on loam soil; wheat straw on loam soil; pinewood on loam soil and loam soil alone as a substrate. The loam soil was put in an incinerator for 24hours to remove any organic matter present in the soil for all the treatments. The insect used in these experiments were workers of at least the third instar since earlier experiments have shown that workers below the third instar have a low survival rate under the same laboratory conditions. Two experiments were performed to determine food preference and survival rates. For each experiment, 15 rearing containers measuring 18x15x7 cm were used. After 2, 4 and 6 weeks, the samples were removed from the rearing chamber and the surviving termites were counted. The number of surviving termite workers found from each treatment was used to calculate the survival rate. The treatment with the highest survival rate was deemed the most preferred food and hence enhanced survival. The rate of survival was highest in wheat straw and loam with a grand average of 82.26% followed by maize stalk and loam with 63.82%. Apart from the control experiment, the lowest survival rates were observed in a pinewood at 47.72%. This shows that wheat straw enhanced the survival of A. tenax and hence the most preferred food item .