The root stubble loss due to foraging by the workers of Odontotermes horni on different crops under dryland agroecosystem.

Abstract

The study was mainly focused on the foraging behavior of worker termites of O. horni on various crops grown under dryland agroecosystems and how they cause loss to root stubbles. The results showed that soybean had the highest loss to root stubbles at 88.62%, followed by maize at 73.72% and finger millet at 70.16%. In terms of partial root stubble loss, maize had the highest percentage at 26.54%, followed by finger millet at 21.82% and soybean at 3.01%. On the other hand, complete root stubbles eaten by the workers were more in soybean at 86.61%, followed by maize at 57.84% and finger millet at 55.85%.