DEGRADATION OF WOOD COMPONENTS BY SUBTERR ANEAN TERMITE, COPTOTERMES-FORMOSANUS SHIRAKI

To clarify the mechanism of wood digestion by the lower termites, the amount of Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) eaten by Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki was measured periodically; fecal mater ial was recovered at the same time and variations in the compositions of the major wood components in the fecal material were determined. Th ere were no tendencies of constantly increasing or decreasing in both the recovery of the fecal material and the coefficients of digestibili ty for the major wood components. The digestibility coefficient for gl ucose constituting the cellulose in the wood was largest and in a rang e of 72-78%, indicating that the cellulose in the wood ingested by the termites was digested most preferentially in the course of its passag e through the intestines of the termites. Wood was grounded to be less than 50 mu m in size by the termites. Cellulose in the wood is digest ed efficiently by means of the combined action of trituration by the t ermites and by cellulolytic enzymes existing in the termites.