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Background and Objective: Baiting method can be used to evaluate subterranean termite presence, in which one of the most favorable wood species to termite that has been studied is pine wood. The high resin content in the pine wood reduce termite palatability. Thus, several treatments were employed to observe termite palatability to the treated pine wood., Materials and Methods: Samples of pine wood were treated with presto (0.4 bar, 100°C), boiled (100°C) and steamed (100°C). Each treatment was carried out for 5 h. Before being fed to the subterranean termites C. curvignathus, the wood sample was sanded to remove the resin that adheres to the surface of the sample test. The wood sample was fed to subterranean termites C. curvignathus based on SNI 7207: 2014. In this study the hardness of wood samples were also based on BS 373 1957., Results: The results showed that the 3 treatments could increase the palatability of subterranean termites C. curvignathus on pine wood. The percentage of weight loss in the treated wood sample was greater (12.48-30.39%) than the control (10.07%). Meanwhile the hardness of the wood sample with treatment were smaller (332.56-391.91 kg cm-2) than the control (417.82 kg cm-2)., Conclusion: The best treatment was presto treatment. The presto treated pine wood has the lowest hardness value, thus the wood become softer and increasing the palatability of C. curvignathus.

The authors have recently investigated the chemical components and bioactivity of fungus comb from Macrotermes gilvus Hagen mounds. The ethyl acetate, methanol, and water extracts of the fungus comb contained active compounds which are preventing the growth of Aspergillus foeti-dus, one of the most economically important wood-staining fungi in Indonesia. In this present study, the bioactivity of the fungus comb extracts was examined against the white-rot fungus Schizophyllum commune Fr. For the purpose of generating a realistic in-service type of environment, the extracts were evaluated according to modified EN-113 after impregnated into wood samples by the vacuum-pressure method, following in-vitro antimicrobial susceptibility test. The results showed that ethyl acetate extract at concentrations ranging from 2 to 6% and methanol extract at a concentration of 6% presented high bioactivity against S. commune. This result was established through optical microscopy images, which demonstrated the absence of fungal mycelia in the vessels of wood samples treated with EtOAc extract at concentrations of 2%, 4%, and 6%, as well as MeOH extract with a concentration of 6%. The toxic values of the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts were determined to be 6.17% and 7.72%, respectively. Based on UPLC-HRMS analysis, azelaic acid, and erucamide were discovered as the dominant components in ethyl acetate extracts, which are anticipated to be the most active compounds. It appears that ethyl acetate extract, as well as methanol extract, can be considered as novel preservative sources for controlling wood-decaying fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]