Biological control of termites: a bibliometric and state-of-the-art review

Termites are considered pests and biological control is an environmentally friendly alternative to reduce pesticide contamination. It was aimed with this study to compile the publications indexed in the Scopus platform referring to biological control of termites between 1981 and 2019. A total of 143 publications were found, each of which was read and filtered according to the selection criteria. The studies analyzed were conducted in 16 countries, with the United States leading the way (44%). A total of 55 termite species and seven families were recorded in the papers. For the control agents tested, more than 140 species were identified and classified. Plant insecticides were the most cited, with emphasis on oils and extracts from Azadirachta indica and Chamaecyparis obtusa. It was noted that most research was conducted on a laboratory scale in the form of experimental designs. This may limit more comprehensive discussions of the biological termite control agents tested. Although the use of other control agents is increasing, there is a wide range of insecticides and plant -derived compounds that can be studied.