Evaluation of uncrushed feed substrates
This study envisaged to find out how termites respond to different plant substrates as food. Could Avocado attract termites differently thanG. robusta , Eucalyptus, Cypress, Neem, Mango, Maize, Sugarcane, Bamboo, Blue citronella grass? and what would be the effect of having no substrate? Termites attraction to the various feed substrates were highly significant p<0.05. Luanda sub-County has many tree species among them G. robusta , Cypress, Eucalyptus, Neem, Mango, Avocado. A mixture of all the plant species gave the highest termite attraction (Mean ±SE, 676.500± 41.7 a) followed by sugarcane (552.500±33.7b), while the blue Citronela grass had the lowest attraction (18.500±0.26g) table 2 . Termites visited the feed traps at night. Variation in wood chemistry is known to affect termite feeding and substrate preference. In his study Evans et al., (2005) recorded that termites prefer small blocks of wood to large blocks. In this study, the selected plants were chopped into small pieces and put in the termite traps. Among the tree species used in this study,G. robusta had the highest attraction followed by Eucalyptus and Cypress respectively. Fajar et al., (2021), reported that termites foraged on Eucalyptus. Nakabonge & Matovu, (2021) reported that Eucalyptus species are highly susceptible to termites.
The worker termites were found in large numbers than soldiers,table 5 . The workers feed while the soldiers keep guard. Worker termites produce a loud noise when chewing. This loud chewing generates acoustic emissions that attract more workers to feed in the dark, as elucidated by Wang et al., (2019).