Septicaemia of subterranean termites Coptotermes curvignathus caused by disturbance of bacteria isolated from termite gut and its foraging pathways.

ABSTRACT: Microbial pathogens continue to attract a great deal of attention to manage the termite population. Every bacterium has its own mode of action and in fact, the mechanisms used by bacteria to attack termites remain elusive at the moment. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of subterranean termites Coptotermes curvignathus to opportunistic pathogens using culturable aerobic bacteria isolated from the termite gut and its foraging pathways. Bacterial suspensions were prepared in concentrations of 10³, 10⁶ and 10⁹ colony-forming units (CFU) ml^-1 and introduced to the termites via oral-contact and physical contact treatment. The data show that contact method acted slower and gave lower mortality, compared to the

SUBMITTER: Chin KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7481678 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature