Resistance of Wood Wool Cement Board to the Attack of Philippine Termites

Carlos M Garcia; Dwight A Eusebio; Marciana R San Pablo; Edgar M Villena

doi:10.3390/insects3010018

Resistance of Wood Wool Cement Board to the Attack of Philippine Termites

Insects. 2011 Dec 28;3(1):18-24. doi: 10.3390/insects3010018.

Authors

Carlos M Garcia¹, Dwight A Eusebio², Marciana R San Pablo³, Edgar M Villena⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Technology, Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines. cmgarcia_losbanos@yahoo.com.
² Department of Science and Technology, Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines. dwight_eusebio@yahoo.com.
³ Department of Science and Technology, Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines. marcianasanpablo@yahoo.com.
⁴ Department of Science and Technology, Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines. edgar_villena@yahoo.com.

Abstract

The resistance of yemane (Gmelina arborea Roxb.)-based wood wool cement board (WWCB) against Philippine termites was evaluated under laboratory and field conditions. Tests were conducted following the FPRDI standard procedures in determining the resistance of WWCB against subterranean and drywood termites. Results of the laboratory tests showed that WWCB was resistant to both Microcerotermes losbañosensis Oshima and Cryptotermes dudleyi Banks. Under field conditions, WWCB was highly resistant to subterranean termites. There was no remarkable termite damage except for the normal nibbling or initial termite feeding on the board during the 8-year exposure period.

Keywords: Cryptotermes; Gmelina; Microcerotermes; Nasutitermes; resistance; wood wool cement board.