Termites are social insects of the order Isoptera. It is belonging to the insect infra order Isoptera and are characterized by their colonial behavior. In Africa at large and Ethiopia in particular, the most important termite genera are Macrotermes, Odnotermes, Pseudocanthotermes, Ancistrotermes and Microterme termites. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. The term “hidden enemy” is used in this review because most of the loss caused by termite is during growing time feeding on the roots of crops under the soils. Habitats are the heaviest in the tropic regions, subtropics, and warmer climate regions. It’s predominantly distributed in tropical environment, with the highest species richness in equatorial rainforest. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Moreover the harmful effect of termite outweighs positive effects. Termite cause wide spread damage to a great variety of crops in tropical Africa. The yield loss from damage of termite in Ethiopia can ranges from 8.6% to 81.4%. Different management techniques are available for controlling termite. However the efficiency of controlling mechanism depends on distribution, biology (reproduction and lifecycle) and ecology of termite species occupying an area. Moreover ITM (Integrated termite management) is environmentally safe and economically affordable mechanism of termite management. Hence the area of this review focuses on distribution of subterranean termite, biology and management techniques. Therefore, distribution, biology and management techniques reviewed in current paper really helpful as source of information for researcher, developmental agents and crop producers about termite, which is neglected crop enemy and currently cause huge loss in agricultural products.
| Published in | American Journal of BioScience (Volume 10, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13 |
| Page(s) | 172-179 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Biology, Castes, Distribution, Ecology, Microtermes, Mound, Termites
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APA Style
Mosisa Tolossa. (2022). Termite, a Hidden Enemy of Crops: A Review. American Journal of BioScience, 10(5), 172-179. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13
ACS Style
Mosisa Tolossa. Termite, a Hidden Enemy of Crops: A Review. Am. J. BioScience 2022, 10(5), 172-179. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13,
author = {Mosisa Tolossa},
title = {Termite, a Hidden Enemy of Crops: A Review},
journal = {American Journal of BioScience},
volume = {10},
number = {5},
pages = {172-179},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbio.20221005.13},
abstract = {Termites are social insects of the order Isoptera. It is belonging to the insect infra order Isoptera and are characterized by their colonial behavior. In Africa at large and Ethiopia in particular, the most important termite genera are Macrotermes, Odnotermes, Pseudocanthotermes, Ancistrotermes and Microterme termites. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. The term “hidden enemy” is used in this review because most of the loss caused by termite is during growing time feeding on the roots of crops under the soils. Habitats are the heaviest in the tropic regions, subtropics, and warmer climate regions. It’s predominantly distributed in tropical environment, with the highest species richness in equatorial rainforest. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Moreover the harmful effect of termite outweighs positive effects. Termite cause wide spread damage to a great variety of crops in tropical Africa. The yield loss from damage of termite in Ethiopia can ranges from 8.6% to 81.4%. Different management techniques are available for controlling termite. However the efficiency of controlling mechanism depends on distribution, biology (reproduction and lifecycle) and ecology of termite species occupying an area. Moreover ITM (Integrated termite management) is environmentally safe and economically affordable mechanism of termite management. Hence the area of this review focuses on distribution of subterranean termite, biology and management techniques. Therefore, distribution, biology and management techniques reviewed in current paper really helpful as source of information for researcher, developmental agents and crop producers about termite, which is neglected crop enemy and currently cause huge loss in agricultural products.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Termite, a Hidden Enemy of Crops: A Review AU - Mosisa Tolossa Y1 - 2022/10/29 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13 T2 - American Journal of BioScience JF - American Journal of BioScience JO - American Journal of BioScience SP - 172 EP - 179 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0167 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20221005.13 AB - Termites are social insects of the order Isoptera. It is belonging to the insect infra order Isoptera and are characterized by their colonial behavior. In Africa at large and Ethiopia in particular, the most important termite genera are Macrotermes, Odnotermes, Pseudocanthotermes, Ancistrotermes and Microterme termites. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. The term “hidden enemy” is used in this review because most of the loss caused by termite is during growing time feeding on the roots of crops under the soils. Habitats are the heaviest in the tropic regions, subtropics, and warmer climate regions. It’s predominantly distributed in tropical environment, with the highest species richness in equatorial rainforest. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Moreover the harmful effect of termite outweighs positive effects. Termite cause wide spread damage to a great variety of crops in tropical Africa. The yield loss from damage of termite in Ethiopia can ranges from 8.6% to 81.4%. Different management techniques are available for controlling termite. However the efficiency of controlling mechanism depends on distribution, biology (reproduction and lifecycle) and ecology of termite species occupying an area. Moreover ITM (Integrated termite management) is environmentally safe and economically affordable mechanism of termite management. Hence the area of this review focuses on distribution of subterranean termite, biology and management techniques. Therefore, distribution, biology and management techniques reviewed in current paper really helpful as source of information for researcher, developmental agents and crop producers about termite, which is neglected crop enemy and currently cause huge loss in agricultural products. VL - 10 IS - 5 ER -
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