Previous studies showed that many wood-rotting fungi were attractive to termites; however, little attention has been paid to the relationship between termites and soil fungus. In the present study, different designs of two-choice tests were conducted to investigate the behaviors of two subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (wood-feeding lower termites) and Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) (fungus-growing higher termites), in response to soil (or sand) treated with the commercial conidial formulations of Trichoderma harzianum Rifai (BioWorks) and Trichoderma viride Pers. ex Fries (Shuiguxin).The short-term (1 d) choice tests showed no significant difference in termite aggregation (C. formosanus and O. formosanus) between treated and untreated soil, regardless of Trichoderma species and concentrations. However, in the long-term choice tests, C. formosanus consumed significantly more wood in the chambers containing soil treated with the conidial formulation of T. viride (1 × 108 conidia/g) than that containing untreated soil. The tunneling choice tests showed that sand treated with T. viride (1 × 106 or 1 × 108 conidia/g) or T. harzianum (1 × 106 conidia/g) significantly increased the tunneling activities of C. formosanus. However, sand treated with T. viride (1 × 106 or 1 × 108 conidia/g) had a repellent effect on O. formosanus. Our study showed that the two subterranean termites behaved differently when responding to the conidial formulations of Trichoderma.
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17 February 2018
Does Soil Treated with Conidial Formulations of Trichoderma spp. Attract or Repel Subterranean Termites?
Hongpeng Xiong,
Kena Xue,
Wenquan Qin,
Xuan Chen,
Huifang Wang,
Xianhui Shi,
Tao Ma,
Zhaohui Sun,
Weiguang Chen,
Xueqin Tian,
Wei Lin,
Xiujun Wen,
Cai Wang
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Journal of Economic Entomology
Vol. 111 • No. 2
April 2018
Vol. 111 • No. 2
April 2018
Coptotermes formosanus
Odontotermes formosanus
soil microbe
Trichoderma
two-choice test