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Professor
I, Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed Khan working as faculty, in the Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir. I am actively involved in teaching at PG level in Zoology in general and Ichthyology in particular to Post Graduate students. As a part of my research guidance initiatives I have supervised the research work of various M/Phil and Doctoral students in the area of Fish Nutrition, Physiology, Reproductive Biology and Limnology. Many of my students have already been awarded research degrees and others are at various stages of completion of their degree programs. I have reoriented the syllabus related to Ichthyology at PG level and introduced Fish Nutrition, Feed Technology and Feed formulation techniques and also involved in conducting regular on-farm demonstrations of various techniques for PG/research students by visiting various fish hatcheries run by State Fisheries Department.
My pioneer contribution in the field of research is determination of complete essential amino acids requirements of Indian Major Carp, Cirrhinus mrigala at fingerling stage as a part of my doctoral thesis and essential amino acid requirements of H. fossilis at fingerling stage as a part of research project. Key finding of my research projects have been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture for proper implementation through DST- New Delhi. Feeding regime/appropriate ration size of some important cultured fish species have been determined and recommended for the proper utilization of feed. The protein requirement of two cultured fish species inhabiting Kashmir water bodies i.e., Common Carp, Cyprinus carpio communis and Cyprinus carpio specularis were first reported by me from Kashmir. More recently I have successfully generated the data on protein and amino acid requirement of rainbow trout, fingerlings under the DBT-Sponsored major project.
Apart from protein and amino acids requirements studies, I have also established quantitative information on vitamin requirement of different cultured fish species. I was the first to determine feeding regime and protein and energy maintenance requirement of rainbow trout, O. mykiss from Kashmir water in lab conditions. I have also established nutritional value of indigenous snow trout Schizothorax of Kashmir and the seasonal variation in hematio-biochemical composition of fishes from Kashmir valley. Most of my research work has been published in high rated and prestigious Peer-reviewed International Journals. To conduct research in my specialized areas, I have established fish feeding trial laboratory with continuous flow through system, which is first in its kind in J&K. Presently I am involved in extending my expert services to State Fisheries Department’s Kokernag, Manasbal and Laribal Fish Hatcheries in various areas of fish nutrition. I am also working on fish proteomic analysis to establish some information about the role of specific protein in the behavior of cold-water fish species of Kashmir region.
For the first time we have established the hematological and serum biochemical reference intervals (RIs) of two indigenous snow trout and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. The information generated would be useful for monitoring the health status of trouts present in the valley. Moreover, my research group also studies the proteomic profile of some snow trout fish species from the Valley.
Future Plan:
- Establishment of nutritional profile of abundantly available macrophytes and their possible use in fish/animal feed.
- Development of local ingredient-based feed for cultured fish species.
- Development of poultry-based feed in order to replace the expensive fish meal from rainbow trout feed largely cultured in Kashmir valley.
- Molecular taxonomic characterization of fish species of Kashmir valley.
- Determination of vitamin and mineral requirements of rainbow trout.
- Bio-prospection of cold-water fish species.
Zoology