Termites
are social insects that inhabit colonies in the soil. Termites feed on a wide
range of plants found within diverse habitats of Luanda Sub-County. This study
aimed at assessing feed preference of edible termites and analyzing their
phytochemical composition. Termites were exposed to ten different test plants
in their natural habitats to assess feed preference. Forty-seven study sites
were selected as they had high termite abundance from previous studies. The
test plants were Grevillea
robusta, sugarcane, maize, blue citronella grass, Eucalyptus, mango, avocado, neem,
bamboo and a mixture of all the ten plants. Small pits were dug in the ground
where the ten treatments were placed and replicated four times each. The test
plants were placed in the evening then covered with soil block. The number of
termites feeding on the test plants was counted after 12 hours the following
day. There were separate trials for crushed and uncrushed feed substrates. The
feed substrates that showed high feed preference was selected for phytochemical
analysis. The plants whose crude extract was obtained were Grevillea robusta, bamboo, Eucalyptus, cypress, maize and sugarcane. The results for
this study were analysed using one-way ANOVA. The study revealed that crushed
feed substrates had a high level of feed preference by termites p < 0.05.
The mixture of all the feed substrates also showed high termite preference and
a mean and SE of 676.500 ± 41.7a.
Phytochemical analysis of the crude plant extracts revealed that Eucalyptus had the highest number of
phytochemicals present 9 out of 12. The identified phytochemicals were saponins,
tannins, alkaloids, resins, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrates, phenols and
flavones.
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