Randomized trial assessed soil properties after applying termite waste in sandy soils, indicating potential benefits for crop cycles.
The objective of this study is to determine the influence of termite waste amendment on the physicochemical properties of soil after rice production in Daloa, Côte d'Ivoire. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates, each comprising ten treatments. A sandy soil was amended with the waste product Termisol. Six doses of Termisol and four controls (zero fertilizer, NPK fertilizer, manure, and natural termite mound soil) were tested. Observations focused on physicochemical properties, infiltration, soil moisture, and temperature after the second cycle. The results showed that plots amended with 87.30 to 175 t ha⁻¹ of Termisol retained higher levels of carbon, organic matter, available phosphorus, exchangeable bases, and (clay + silt) than the other plots and the control soil at the test site. The 4% Termisol treatment (116.5 t ha⁻¹) showed the best residual effect with a clay + silt content of 28.35%, an organic matter content of 1.68%, an assimilable phosphorus content of 48 mg kg⁻¹ and a base sum of 1.57 mg kg⁻¹. The addition of Termisol to this sandy soil helped improve soil moisture and therefore its water retention capacity, as a result of its effect on soil permeability. These results showed that the effect of the Termisol amendment can allow for at least two consecutive crop cycles. This study deserves to be extended in order to determine the effect of this product when applied continuously over two to three cycles.
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Yéo et al. (2025) studied this question.