A case for adopting a standardized protocol of field and laboratory bioassays to evaluate a potential soil termiticide

Abstract

The rationale for adopting a new approach to the field testing of potential soil termiticides is advocated on the grounds that current testing methods are limited to termite bioassays and do not address quantitatively the persistence and bioavailability of soil termiticides to foraging subterranean termites over time and in different soil types. Furthermore, the present testing regimes assume field situations of uniform high termite hazard across field sites. Our testing procedures require the random sampling of soil cores from test soil pads (500 x 500 mm) at several geographically different locations. The soil cores from treated and untreated soil pads are returned to the laboratory and ha..