Introduction
Edible termites are used as food and feed in many parts of the world
Kenis et al., (2014), Ayieko et al., (2010). There are many termite
species across many diverse habitats in the world (Pranesh & Harini,
2015). Termites forage on many plants found within those habitats. The
choice of plants to forage on by termites is influenced by the
attraction of the termite towards the plant. Plants produce
phytochemicals that differ in quality and composition Fraga-Corral et
al., (2020). Some plants have a strong attraction to termites than
others.
Materu et al., (2013) documented that termites forage mainly during the
wet season and highly reduced during the dry season due to variations in
feed sources. According to (Korb et al., 2019), the distribution and
abundance of termites were significantly correlated with a set of
environmental and ecological variables such as the presence of plants,
soil organic carbon and water. Rao et al., (2012) found that termites of
the genus Macrotermes were found to actively feed on branches or forage
inside dead logs of trees. Termites thus play a very important
beneficial role in forest ecosystems and also cause injury to forests.
(Ravan et al., 2015) in his work recorded that termites usually feed on
a wide variety of food sources like trees, deadwood, humus and fungi.
Feeding preferences of the dry wood termite Cryptotermes breviswere studied and found that only pine was foraged in lower quantity
compared to Cedar.
Poissonnier et al., (2018) recorded that carbohydrates were present in
wood thus providing the required nutrients to termites. This study
investigated feeding preferences of termites on ten plant species,
namely, Eucalyptus, Bamboo, Blue citronella grass, Maize, sugarcane,
Avocado, Mango, Neem, Cypress and Grevillea. The study also evaluated
the phytochemical composition of the plants which edible termites
forage.