Postgraduate student of PetrSU studies autoflora of rainbow trout to prevent fish diseases

Alexander Kuchko, a postgraduate student at Petrozavodsk State University, started thinking about continuing his studies from the second year of his master’s degree, when he realized that he wanted to devote a few more years to his scientific work.
Alexander studies cage trout farming, which has been developing so rapidly in the last decade in the Republic of Karelia. The scientific work is devoted to a comprehensive study of the autoflora of rainbow trout.

In fact, I continue, expand my research, which I conducted during my undergraduate and graduate studies. I consider the work to be relevant, since microorganisms perform a number of vital functions in the body of fish and can both positively and negatively affect its health. In this regard, the study of the autoflora of trout makes it possible to assess its physiological state and predict the occurrence of possible bacterial infections in fisheries, says Alexander.

In addition to his research activities, Alexander is developing a technology for creating a biocomposite based on shungite for the purification of water areas of fishery importance. At the end of 2018, for the implementation of this project, a grant was won from the Innovation Promotion Fund under the UMNIK program. At the moment, the graduate student is writing a report on the results of two years of work on the project.

Since February 2020, Alexander has been working as the head of the laboratory department at one of the Karelian trout feed factories, where he controls the quality of incoming raw materials and finished products. This profession is associated with the scientific interests of a graduate student, specifically with the study of the quality of feed, which, like water, has a direct effect on the appearance, formation and activity of autoflora in the body of trout.