Department of Zoology

Laboratory Facilities:

• (i) Physical: Students Laboratories (02), Research Laboratories (05), Equipment Room (02), Green House (01), Experimental Field (01)
• (ii)Academic and Research: Class Room (02), Practical room (02), Computers (12) with internet facility, LCD Projector facility, Water Distillation Plant, Power Backup (both generator and UPS), Animal House Facility (on sharing basis), Bio-statistical and Bioinformatics Programmes with License.
• (iii) Major equipments available
  1. UV Vis Spectrophotometer
  2. Leica Research Microscope with photographic attachment
  3. Gas Chromatography
  4. Green House Facility
  5. Elecrophoresis with blotting facility
  6. Thermocycler 7. Microtome
  8. Refrigerated Centrifuge
  9. Systronics UV VIS Digital Spectrophotometer with PC & Data print out system
  10.Olympus Trinocular microscope equipped with photographic system

Details of Research groups:

• Biosystematics and Biodiversity: Professor B. K. Agarwala has been engaged in exploration of vast areas of north-east India for systematic and biodiversity studies of insects with emphasis on specially for butterflies and aphids of Tripura state. He has recorded 179 butterfly species belonging to various genera and several families and assigned them to 91 ranks according to their relative abundance. He found that areas having high physical heterogeneity like Debabari and Maharani in Tripura show greater species richness and diversity than many other areas which show less heterogeneity in physical features. He is also investigating distribution of aphids in relation to their host and climatic conditions. He noted that widely distributed polyphagus aphids like Aphis gossypii and A. spiraecola show host specialized races or monophagy in the hot and humid climate of north-east India. Host-specific adaptation in viviparous population of A. spiraecola showed phenotypic plasticity in response to seasonality of host plants.
• Physiology & Biochemistry: The Insect Physiology and Biochemistry laboratory headed by Professor D. Ghosh, is engaged to explore biochemistry of ovarian development and oogenesis of insects and other Arthropods resolved by Electron microscopy and Biochemical tools. It’s primary focus concern with vitellogenesis, vitellin and choriongenesis. He characterizes vitellin and chorion proteins of grasshoppers and at present actively engaged to explore the genetic background of the same. At the same time he is also engaged to characterize proteins and peroxidases from fruit sources to identify their immunomodulatory activity in mammals.
• Aquaculture and Fish Biotechnology:Professor S Banik has been actively engaged in the exploration of various endangered, threatened, and vulnerable fish species of both lotic and lentic freshwater ecosystems of Tripura state for the purpose of Conservation of fish diversity with special emphasis on Development of Captive Breeding technology with the application of recent aquaculture technology. Simultaneously, for enhancing greater survival rate as well as growth potential of the fish larvae of those endangered, threatened, and vulnerable fish species a viable larval rearing technology has been developed in our laboratory. A successful captive breeding technology for an endangered fish Ompok bimaculatus is developed and standardised for the first time in the country. Breeding and larval rearing technologies for a rare fish species Nandus nandus and a vulnerable freshwater prawn species Macrobrachium dayanum was already standardised for the first time in the country. This technology for another endangered fish species Ompok pabda has also been developed in recent period. Puntius ticto a lentic water fish species in a recent study is identified as vulnerable fish species for which also captive breeding technology is developed for the first time in the country. In order to explore various economically important fish species a number of freshwater river ecosystem of Tripura such Feni river, Muhuri river, Gomoti river, Deo river etc have been investigating for habitat mapping of some wild fish species. Apart from this work some studies on identification of triploid form of Clarias batrachus was done in our laboratory.
• Vermicompost forming and Earthworm Biodiversity: Another dimensions of work is undertaken by Dr. P.S. Chaudhuri. He engaged to evaluate the role of earthworm diversity in the important cash crop plantation i.e. rubber, pineapple etc. of Tripura - a biodiversity hot-spot of India. The soil of Tripura is highly acidic with depletion of organic carbon, phosphorus and calcium. He has also been working on amelioration of soil health for better crop yield through application of vermicompost produced by endemic variety of earthworm (Perionyx excavates). He has also elucidated the reproductive biology of fifteen species of earthworms of Tripura in order to evaluate reproductive potential of these earthworm — the “ecosystem engineers” for their future application in “in-soil earthworm technology”.
• Endocrino-immunology: Dr S. S. Singh is actively engaged to explore new dimensions in area of endocrino-immunology.

Collaborations: