Eco. Env. & Cons. 27 (4) : 2021; pp. (1949-1952) Copyright@ EM International ISSN 0971–765X Preference of subterranean termites Macrotermes gilvus Hagen (Blattodea: Termitidae) control using smoke wood and borax Niken Subekti 1 *, Saniaturrohmah 1 , Sonika Maulana 2 , Kholiq Budiman 3 and Priyantini Widiyaningrum 1 1 Departement of Biology, Semarang State University, Indonesia 2 Machine Engineering Department, Semarang State University, Indonesia 3 Computer Science Department, Semarang State University, Indonesia (Received 20 October, 2020; Accepted 1 April, 2021) ABSTRACT Termites are widely known as building pests. Gunungpati, Semarang is a suitable area for the termites Macrotermes gilvus Hagen. Feeding preference of subterranean termites Macrotermes gilvus Hagen (Blattodea: Termitidae) was investigated. Nowadays, termite control used synthetic chemical compounds. Therefore, it is necessary to control termites by using organic compounds that are environmentally friendly. The aims of this study is to analyse food consumption and the durability of M. gilvus Hagen termites after liquid smoke treatment using sengon wood waste and borax. The method that used in this study was the preference test for M. gilvus termites with liquid smoke treatment using sengon and borax waste, mortality test and GCMS analysis of sengon wood. The results showed that liquid smoke from sengon wood at a concentration of 0.5% was effective for controlling M. gilvus Hagen termites for 40 hours, meanwhile borax could control M. gilvus Hagen termites with a concentration of 0.5% for 16 hours. This research can serve as a reference for termite control companies in Indonesia. Key words : Subterranean termites, Macrotermes gilvus Hagen, Smoke wood, borax Introduction The subterranean termite Macrotermes gilvus Hagen (M. gilvus Hagen) is widely known as an insect pest that disrupt housing, school buildings and buildings (Subekti, 2019). Its attack on residential buildings has become a major problem because the value of losses increasingly over time. Termite identification in Semarang show that it is dominated by subterra- nean termites including M. gilvus Hagen (Subekti and Saniaturrohmah, 2020). Building damage due to termite attacks in Semarang has reached more than 85% (Subekti et al., 2018). Meanwhile, economic losses due to termite attacks in Indonesia reach 8.7 billion rupiah per year (Nandika, 2016). Nowadays, controlling M gilvus Hagen subterra- nean termites use synthetic pesticides and it has some weakness: it pollutes the environment, does not target insects, can cause cancer if exposed to the skin (Malik et al., 2011). Moreover, the prices of syn- thetic pesticides and borax are also expensive. Based on these problems, it is necessary to control termite using organic materials that are environmentally friendly and right on the target insects. Biological control is one solution. Various studies on termite control using natural materials have been carried out, including: making biopesticides from agarwood leaves (Subekti et al., 2019) and mangrove leaves (Sahidah and Subekti, 2019). However, the manufacture of biopesticides