Field evaluation of subterranean termites palatability on treated pine wood in Alam Sinarsari Residence, West Java

Abstract

Pine wood has been commonly utilized as bait wood in controlling termites by using a baiting system. This research aims to evaluate the palatability of subterranean termites against pine wood by boiled treatment, steamed, hot vapor pressured, and oven in Alam Sinarsari Residence, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia and analyze the distribution of termites and identity the termite species that attack bait wood. The size of bait wood refers to ASTM D 1758-06. There were four treatments of bait wood; steam treatment (100 C), boiling treatment (100 C), hot vapor pressure treatment (1 bar and 105 C) for five hours each and oven treatment (103 2 C) for 48 hours. As a comparison, bait wood without treatment was prepared as a control. The result showed that bait wood using boiling treatment had more active subterranean termites than others. The identification result showed that there were 4 species of subterranean species (Macrotermes sp., Odontotermes sp., Microtermes sp., and Schedorhinotermes sp). The highest frequency of termites attack was in bait wood using oven treatment, and the highest damage intensity was in hot vapor pressure treatment. Based on the rating system the best treatment for bait wood treatment is hot vapor pressure treatment and boiling.