Potentials of Processed Termite as a Stabilizing Agent in Clay Soil

Agricultural Engineering International: The CIGR Journal, 2018

This study was performed to assess termite mound inherent property as additive for improvement of soil strength in Nigeria. The mound on the Rhodic Acrisol was sampled from top at 0 - 60 cm, 60 - 120 cm and 120 - 180 cm intervals through a vertical section. For the Rhodic Acrisol, three samples were sampled from depth at 0 – 60 cm, 60 – 120 cm and 120 – 180 cm intervals through a vertical section.Termite mound sample was mixed with the two soil samples separately, that is, termite mound and clayey soil in one part and termite mound and laterite soil in another part. Twenty trials experiment were conducted on the soils during compact test for soil mix ranging from 0 to 100 % at interval of 5 %. The optimum moisture content obtained from the compaction test was used to carry out compressive strength test. The Triaxial machine model HM -5020 was used for determination of the compressive strength. The soil samples were examined in accordance with the American Public Health Association....

2018

This research investigates and compares the strength properties of termite's mounds for building construction. Samples of mound hills were collected from the different geo-political regions of Plateau state. Field test (smell/washing/toughness test), moisture content test, particle size distribution test was carried out on mound soil samples. Also, the following tests were done on the compressed bricks, compressive strength test, water absorption test, abrasion test. The results of the test showed that termite mound soils from the northern zone do not contain organic matters while samples in the central and southern regions contain organic matter. For particle size distribution, 83% particles of the northern zone are within the silty sand region, samples from central 88% are within the silty sand region, and sample from the southern region, 83% are within the silty sand region. For moisture content determination, 36.2% of moisture was found from the northern sample, while an average of 40% from the central and 33% from the southern region. Compressive strength test at 7days was 2.7N/mm 2 for the northern sample, 2.5N/mm 2 from the central and 3.1N/mm 2 from the southern sample. At 21days, the northern sample showed no strength while the central sample showed strength of 1N/mm 2 and the southern sample showed 3.4N/mm 2. For water absorption, all the samples showed remarkable swelling and dissolution in water at 24hours. The bricks are prone to abrasion. Recommendation such as stabilizing the soil of the termite mound material by affecting the soil texture was made. Also the bricks should be protected from direct contact with water. Keywords organic matter, soil stabilisers, termite mound modified soils 1. Introduction In recent times, the interest of researchers, institutions and government bodies have been shifting to the Termite Mound technology due to activities of the termites on the soil, thereby increasing the stability of the soil. Termites are social insects of the order isopteran with about 3,000 known species, of which 75% are classified as soil feeding termites. The diets of soil-feeding termites consist of no-cellular organic material mixed with clay minerals. Their guts are formed by five compartments that present rising gradients of pH, up to 12.5 and different status of oxygen and hydrogen [1-4] in scientia Agricola (2006). These characteristic are certainly important and may effectively contribute to mound soil chemical and physical characteristics. Olaoye and Anigbogu [5] revealed in their work that the dry and wet compressive strength of the compressed earth brick (C.E.B) stabilized with termite modified soil were at maximum when the bricks where within the limit recommended by building regulation for construction of bungalow and low rise buildings. According to Olaoye and Anigbogu [5], the small mounds are only 30cm or so in height and are built by the cubiter mean species that feed under the cover of recent leaf falls while the larger mounds (less frequent) are built by wood feeders and foreign termites such as macrotermean species. This study examines those variations and their effects on the strength properties of the mounds, as obtained from the three (3) geo-political zones of Plateau State.

International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology (IJERT), 2014

https://www.ijert.org/investigation-of-the-index-properties-of-lateritic-soil-reworked-by-termite-for-road-construction https://www.ijert.org/research/investigation-of-the-index-properties-of-lateritic-soil-reworked-by-termite-for-road-construction-IJERTV3IS040608.pdf The determination of the influence of activities of termites on the index properties of termite reworked soils and non-reworked surrounding soils from Ado-Ekiti, Southwestern Nigeria was carried out. Two termite hills from two locations were chosen. Twenty bulk representative soil samples depicting twelve Termite Reworked soils and eight Non-Reworked surrounding lateritic soils samples were collected. Some index parameters such as specific gravity, grain size distribution, consistency limits and linear shrinkage of the soils were determined. The results of these tests showed that the specific gravity of grain of the termite reworked soils are higher than those of the surrounding soils. However, the plasticity indices and linear shrinkage of the termite reworked soils were significantly lower than those of the surrounding soils, while the linear shrinkage test showed that linear shrinkage values are generally lower for the termite reworked soils than that of surrounding soils. All the index tests carried out favoured termite reworked soils as a better engineering soil than the surrounding lateritic soils. Findings from this work indicate that reworking by termites has improved the index properties of the studied termite reworked soils.

Construction and Building Materials, 2018

h i g h l i g h t s Termite mound clay is pozzolanic in action, and accelerates setting times. It has high affinity for water. The compressive strength decreased as percentage of termite mound clay by wt% of cement increased. Statistical analysis showed that reliable concrete of good quality can be produced.

The assessment of the effects of activities of termites on clay minerals in termite reworked soils and non-reworked surrounding soils was carried out. Two termite hills from two locations were chosen. Twenty bulk representative soil samples depicting twelve termite reworked sols and eight non-reworked surrounding lateritic soils samples were collected. These samples were subjected to clay mineralogical analysis using X-ray diffraction method. The results showed that kaolinite, quartz, illite, halloysite, chlorite and feldspar were confirmed to be present in both termite reworked soils and non-reworked surrounding soils. It was further confirmed that termite reworked soil contain more kaolinite than the non-reworked surrounding soil which indicates that activities of termite increased the mineralogy of lateritic soil.

The use of termite mound soil as a construction material and as a replacement for clay in brick production was investigated. This research investigated the physical properties (Moisture Content, Specific Gravity, Dry-bulk Density, Grain Size Analysis), the Atterberg limits (liquid limit (LL), plastic limit (PL) and plasticity index (PI)) and engineering properties of termitaria bricks. Mound soil was sourced from two sites (Tanke, Ilorin (A) and Civil Engineering Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin (B)). The results of the physical properties of mound soil from both sites showed that there was no significant difference in the physical properties. The Atterberg analysis revealed that soil from site A and site B had plasticity index of 40.57 % and 41.07 % respectively. The average compressive strength of 1.70N/mm 2 and 1.52 N/mm 2 was recorded after 14 days of curing for sites A and B respectively. The highest average compressive strength of 2.70 N/mm 2 and 2.50 N/mm 2 was recorded after 28 days of curing for site A and site B respectively. This indicated 58.8 % increment in compressive strength for sites A and 64.50 % increment in compressive strength for site B. These increments in compressive strengths were as a result of the strong bond between the soil particles as a result of a high percentage of clay and silt and the elimination of air and water pockets within the brick formation. As a result, soil samples from both sites are suitable for brick production for agricultural structures such as grain silos and yam barn.

Agricultural Engineering International: The CIGR Journal, 2016

Termite hills are described as the structure built by termite using soil in the surrounding or within the earth. The mound has extremely hard walls constructed from bits of soil cemented with saliva and baked by the sun. This research is to determine the compressive strength of termite hill soil stabilized with rice husk. The study investigated the compressive strength of 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm cubes made from termite hill soil and rice husk in the different mix ratio of 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 100:0 and was cured for 28 d with crushing the cubes at 7 d interval. The weight, bulk density and dry density of the cubes at different THS/RH mix ratio ages were determined. Test results showed that the compressive strength of the cubes increases with age and increases with decrease in percentage of rice husk. However, the mix ratio of 50:50 has the least compressive strength of 0.4800 MN/mm2 while the mix ratio of 80:20 has the highest compressive strength of 0.9244 MN/mm2 compared t...

Geoderma Regional, 2020

Termites are ecosystem engineers, they play a major role in the biotransformation and modification of soil physicochemical and morphological properties. This study was conducted to evaluate the explored and compared physicochemical and morphological characteristics of soil between termite mounds and surrounding surface soil. Therefore, this study, especially emphasizes the impacts of the mound soil on the surrounding surface soil properties and also to find out the difference between the mound soil properties and surrounding surface soil properties at different soil depth, and characteristic of termite mounds. This study unveils that mound soil properties are directly proportional to the surrounding surface soil properties except for porosity and dispersion ratio. But mound soil properties are not significantly affecting all surface soil properties. The termites have a significant role to change soil physicochemical and morphological properties and there is a significant difference in soil physicochemical properties between mound and surrounding surface soil. However, relatively greater bulk density, clay content, soil pH, organic carbon, nitrogen, exchangeable calcium, exchangeable magnesium, exchangeable sodium, total exchangeable base cations and cation exchange capacity in mound soil than surrounding surface soil. But the relatively lesser value of porosity, dispersion ratio, exchangeable potassium, phosphorus, exchangeable acidity, and C: N ratio is found in mound soil than surrounding surface soil. Conical shaped mounds have greater nutrient concentration than surrounding surface soil. It also highlighted that most of the termite mound consists of trees and bushes containing 8-21 hole or chamber. The termite mounds have granular structure and particle shape are rounded to subrounded, which make them different from surrounding areas. This study suggests and statistically prove that termites have a significant effect on soil properties, they produce physicochemically more quality soil and have an influence on surrounding soil properties.

Geoderma, 2016

This study investigated the influence of soil properties on the density and shape of epigeous fungus-growing termite nests in a dry deciduous forest in Karnataka, India. In this environment, Odontotermes obesus produces cathedral shaped mounds. Their density, shape (height and volume) and soil physicochemical properties were analyzed in ferralsol and vertisol environments. No significant difference was observed in O. obesus mound density (n = 2.7 mound ha −1 on average in the vertisol and ferralsol areas). This study also showed that O. obesus has a limited effect on soil physical properties. No differences in soil particle size, pH, or the C:N ratio and base saturation were measured whereas the C and N contents were reduced and CEC was higher in termite nest soils in both environments. Clay mineralogical composition was also measured, and showed the presence of higher amounts of smectite clays in termite nest soils, which thus explained the increasing CEC despite the reduced C and N content. However, the main difference was the shape of the termite mounds. The degradation of the nests created a hillock of eroded soil at the base of termite mounds in the vertisol while only a thin layer of eroded soil was observed in the ferralsol. The increased degradation of termite mounds in the vertisol is explained by the presence of smectites (2:1 swelling clays), which confer macroscopic swelling and shrinking characteristics to the soil. Soil shrinkage during the dry season leads to the formation of deep cracks in the termite mounds that allow rain to rapidly penetrate inside the mound wall and then breakdown unstable aggregates. In conclusion, it appears that despite a similar abundance, termite mound properties depend to a large extent on the soil properties of their environments.

It is a popular belief of the people in the Southern region of Nigeria that a land infested with termite usually brings prosperity to the land owner regardless of the type of its usage. Therefore, the present study assessed termite mounds soil properties which are important to crop production. Two soil samples were collected and their physical and chemical properties determined in accordance with American Public Health Association (APHA, 2005). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The textural classes showed that the termite mound soil was sand clay loam while the surrounding soil was clay loam. This results revealed that: Termites' activity induced significant chemical changes in the soil possible due to the materials used in building their nests. There was increase the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, Potassium, calcium and magnesium higher in the termite's mounds, while the micro-nutrients (zinc, iron and copper) except sulphur and manganese lower in the soil infested by termites. There were significant differences (p ≥ 0.05) between termite mound soil and surrounding soil. It showed highly positive correlation between termite mound and surrounding soil (r= 0.92). The concentration of the soil properties around the termite mound are within the range of soil nutrients suitable for arable crop production. Termite mound soil is recommended to be used as an alternative to local farmers who cannot afford to buy expensive inorganic fertilizers.