eChapters

Cytokines are the short lived chemical messenger molecules, released by a group of cells which can modulate the functions of the same cell(by which they are produced) or other cells.

Cytological and wet mount techniques are essential diagnostic tools in Indian aquaculture, especially in regions with limited access to advanced laboratory infrastructure. These methods offer rapid, cost-effective, and straightforward approaches for identifying fish pathogens, making them highly suitable for both field and laboratory use.
Cytology involves the collection of cells from various fish tissues—such as gills, skin, fins, kidney, liver, and other internal organs—which are then smeared onto clean glass slides. The smears are air-dried, stained, and examined under a microscope to detect cellular abnormalities, inflammatory responses, or the presence of infectious agents.
• Common stains used in Indian labs include Giemsa, Leishman, and Wright’s, which effectively highlight the morphology of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and abnormal cells.
• Cytology can reveal conditions such as anemia, inflammation, and bacterial or fungal infections, particularly those caused by pathogens like Aeromonas or Edwardsiella.
• Swabs from liver or kidney are frequently used to observe inclusion bodies and aberrant cell structures that suggest systemic infections.
Wet mounts involve placing fresh samples—such as mucus, gill biopsies, skin scrapings, or fecal material—on a slide with a drop of saline or water, covered by a coverslip. These are examined under light microscopy to detect motile parasites and other abnormalities in real time.

Adrenal Tumours

• Adrenal cortical adenoma had normal secretory cells
• Most cells had naked nuclei in the abundant cytoplasm
• Basophilic cytoplasm with abundant clear lipid vacuoles
• Round uniform nuclei

Discrete Cell Tumours

(Round / discrete / distinctive / unique cell tumours)

General Features

• Exfoliate many cells
• Cells often quite small to medium sized
• Discrete cells
• Do not stick together
• If the smear is very cellular, cells are packed close together in sheets
• However, these cells are not adherent to one another
• There are sharp, crisp cytoplasmic margins between cells

Non-Neoplastic Conditions

Haematoma

Collection of blood in outside of the blood vessels It is more common in external ear

• Presence of erythrocytes, blood filled leococytes (non-degenerative neutrophils and macrophages) and platelets
  • Haemosiderin or haematoidin crystals will be seen

Epidermoid cyst/Epidermal cyst/Epidermal inclusion cysts/Follicular cyst

Cytologically cannot distinguish epidermoid cyst from dermoid cyst

• Constitutes ????V3 to V2 of non-neoplastic/non-inflammatory lesion
• Smear is thick
• Keratin bars, squames and other keratinocytes

Hepatocellular Carcinoma

• The presence of normal appearing hepatocytes of atypical hepatocytes with malignant characters
• Single to clusters of polyhedral or polygonal shaped or pleomorphic cells
• Large round, spherical or oval nuclei
• Higher nuclear cytoplasmic ratio
• Large nucleoli
• Dark blue cytoplasm

Points to Ponder

Collect cytological samples (FNAB) only from enlarged lymph nodes

Do not make attempt to collect samples from normal lymph nodes unless to study normal picture (Academic interest).

Care to be taken to hold the lymph node while collecting FNAB

Otherwise needle may go into perinodal fat yielding fat tissue so also in obesity

Submandibular salivary gland enlargement mimic submandibular lymph node enlargement

Salivary tissue will show epithelial cells, acinar formation and no lymphocytes

Cytological diagnosis of lymphadenopathies can be comfortably and confidently made.

Peripheral Lymph Nodes

Mesenchymal Tumours

General Features

• Do not exfoliate many cells - hypocellular; Low cellularity
• Embedded in extracellular matrix-osteoid, chondroid or collagen
• Single, discrete cells and a few are also seen in dense clumps i.e. Individual or unorganized cluster of spindle cells
• Cells-Elongated, fusiform/spindle shaped
• Cytoplasmic extensions/tails seen on both ends of nucleus; borders ill-defined
• Nucleus elongated/fusiform to oval
• As the malignancy potential increases cells become plumpy with a larger, rounder nucleus and shorter cytoplasmic tails
• Nuclei may be fusiform or oval.
• These tumors cannot be differentiated cytologically.
• Tentative diagnosis made.
• Well-differentiated malignant mesenchymal tumors may resemble actively proliferating granulation and requires histologic confirmation.

Mesothelioma

• Arising from the mesothelial lining of serous cavities
• It is very difficult to differentiate from carcinoma, reactive mesothelial hyperplasia
• Round to polygonal cells
• Arranged mostly in clusters
• Centrally located hyperchromatic nuclei

Testicular Tumours

Seminoma

• Cells were round exhibiting anisocytosis
• Round to oval nuclei
• Single distinct eosinophilic to basophilic nucleoli
• Cytoplasm scanty

Sertoli Cell Tumours

• Cellularity - High, anisocytosis
• Nucleus round to oval, megakaryosis, 1-3 basophilic nucleoli
• Chromatin coarse and granular
• Cytoplasm vacuolated

Canine Thyroid Tumours

• Occurs as carcinoma
• Blood contamination also seen
• Cluster of cells
• Free nuclei seen in the pale-blue cytoplasm
• Dark blue to black pigment present in the cytoplasm
• Amorphous pink materials represents colloid
• Colloid and pigmented granuls indicates the thyroid origin
• Round to oval nuclei

Location is important

Since, one should recognize whether cells belong to that area and / or not

Basic aim

• To establish an aetiological and/or morphological diagnosis in order to obtain a more accurate prognosis

Salient Points in Cytological Examination

• Cytology is a joint effort between the clinician and cytologist
• Adequate history, clinical signs and methods of collection should be intimated
• Interpretation suffers if done in a vacuum of information
• Cytology is an rapid, inexpensive technique in tumour diagnosis

Check the Following

Different types of Romanowsky type of stains are used for staining the cytological smears. It will give excellent cytoplasmic and nuclear details and it also stains bacteria. The following stains are commonly used. e.g., Wrights, Giemsa, Leishman, Wright-Giemsa, May-Grunwald-Giemsa, Leishman-Giemsa, Haematoxylin and Eosin, Diffquik stains, Trichrome stains, Papanicolaou or Sano modification.

Staining Methods

Leishman-Giemsa

• Cover the smear with LG stain for a minute
• Dilute with tap water/Distilled water/ phosphate buffered saline pH 6.87.2
• Allow to stain for about 20 min
• Wash in water

May-Grunwald-Giemsa Stain (MGG)
Fix slide in absolute methanol
Protocol
1) Fix the slides with May-Grunwald reagent (15 drops) for three minutes.
2) Without removing the reagent, the same amount of distilled water is poured on the slide and allowed to stand for three more minutes.
3) The dilute May-Grunwald reagent is poured off and the slide is immersed for 8-12 minutes in a watch glass containing Giemsa reagent (15 drops of concentrated reagent are used for each 10 ml. distilled water). The slides should be immersed upside down in the solution to prevent the precipitate formed in the staining mixture from adhering to the preparation.
4) The slides are washed with tap water and dried in air or with filter paper. The distilled water must be neutral or otherwise buffered. With bone marrow or lymph node aspirates a longer staining time is recommended on account of the greater cell concentration. We recommend controlling the staining time with the microscope.

Measuring cell size, diameter, length, distance between cells, area, etc, are important indicators of the identification of cell types and the physiological or pathological state of cells and tissues. ImageJ is a useful program that allows researchers and scientists to work with microscopy images for cytomorphological detailing.
The steps to measure cell size are:
A. Open Your Image in ImageJ: First, open the image containing the cells you want to measure.
B. Set the Scale (Optional): If your image has a known scale (e.g., if you used a microscope with a calibrated scale bar), you can set it inImageJ. This step ensures accurate measurements.
Go to Analyze > Set Scale. Enter the known distance (in pixels) and the corresponding physical distance (e.g., micrometers). Click OK.
C. Choose the Measurement Tool: ImageJ provides several measurement tools. The most common ones for cell size are: Area Measurement: Use the Polygon Selection Tool to outline the cell, and then go to Analyze > Measure.
D. Length Measurement: Use the Straight-Line Selection Tool to measure the length of cell projections (e.g., neurites or filopodia).
E. Record Measurements: After selecting the appropriate tool, click and drag to measure the cell area or length. Press’ t’ to record the measurement. Repeat for multiple cells if needed.
F. View Results: The measured values will appear in the Results window. You can access the results by going to Analyze > Measure or by opening the Results window directly.

• General considerations

 • Scope

 • Exfoliative cytopathology

 • Interventional cytopathology (Biopsy)

 • FNAC

 • Imprint cytopathology

 • Crush smear cytopathology

Introduction
Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), a condition under which a plant is unable to produce functional pollen, is widespread among higher plants. CMS systems represent a valuable tool in the production of hybrid seed in self-pollinating crop species, including maize, rice, cotton, and a number of vegetable crops. Hybrids often exhibit heterosis, more commonly known as hybrid vigor, whereby hybrid progeny exhibit superior growth characteristics relative to either of the parental lines. CMS systems can be of considerable value in facilitating efficient hybrid seed production.
Male-sterility-inducing cytoplasms were recognized in the 1900s. Bateson and Gairdner reported male sterility in flax in 1921, was inherited from the female parent, although genes passed from both the male and female parents affected its expression. Chittenden and Pellow (1927) recognized that male sterility in flax was due to an interaction between the cytoplasm and nucleus, with the male sterility conditioned by the homozygous recessive nuclear genotype in combination with the sterility-inducing cytoplasm.

Dark reactions: It is light independent reactions occurs during daytime. This includes C₃, C₄ and CAM pathway involving the utilization of NADPH and ATP to fix CO₂ into carbohydrates. It is also called as stromal reactions.

Day neutral plants: The plants that flowers regardless of the length of the period of the light that is exposed to. They are called as day neutral plants.

DCMU (Dichlorophenyl dimethyl urea or diuron): An herbicide that inhibits non-cyclic photophosophorylation specifically blocks the electron flow at the quinone acceptors of PSII, by competing for the binding site of plastoquinone that is normally occupied by PQB.

DCPIP (Dichlorophenol indophenols): A dye often used as artificial hydrogen acceptor to demonstrate in Hills reaction in isolated chloroplast in laboratory. The oxidized form is blue in alkali and red in acid, while reduced form is colourless.

Dactylis glomerata L (syn. Bromus glomeratus (L.) Scop. (Poaceae): Eng.- Orchard Grass; Kash.- Dramun [W]. Perennial bunch grass,usually in dense shaded forest areas. A very important pasture and hay grass of temperate grasslands. Culms glabrous, erect. Inflorescences are erect panicles bearing spikelets in dense one sided clusters.

Data Analysis: In the process of data analysis, connections or differences supporting or clashing with unique or new hypotheses should be subjected to statistical tests of significance to decide to what validity data can be said to show any conclusions.

Dahi: It is the product obtained from pasteurized or boiled milk by souring, natural or by harmless lactic acid or other bacterial culture. It is also called Curd (Plate 209).

Dairy: It is a room, building, or establishment where milk is kept and butter / cheese is made or it is the department of farming / farm that is concerned with the production of milk, butter, and cheese or an establishment for the sale / and distribution of milk and milk products.

Dairy husbandry: It deals with care, breeding, feeding, milking of the diary cattle and the production and sale of the milk. It is the economical management of a dairy, including looking after the dairy cattle breeding and proper disposal or sale of milk and milk products.

Dairy products: These are the milk preparation, including butter, cream, cheese, ghee, yoghurt, pasteurized milk, tonned milk, butter milk etc processed and prepared in dairy. Ice cream and kulfi or sweets are not included in this.

Damage: Damage is a physical spoilage, often a partial deterioration, are subjectively judge and very difficult to measure and usually reported as per cent damage.

Daminozide: It is a growth regulator which is used for red colour development in apple.

Dahi: Fermented milk product popular in India. Dahi made from buffalo milk is generally preferred to that made from cow milk. A sweet variety of dahi, misti dahi, is prepared by adding cane sugar to milk during heating, giving a caramelized flavour and brown colour.
Daidzein: One of the two isoflavones of particular importance in soybeans, the other being genistein. Both compounds are structurally similar to oestrogenic steroids and possess both oestrogenic and antioestrogenic activities, the principal functions responsible for the health benefits associated with consumption of soybeans and soy products. Dairies/Dairy Factories: Premises in which dairy products are manufactured. It is called creameries or dairy factories.
Dairy beverages: Drinks based on milk or other dairy products, e.g. whey.
Dairy desserts: Ready to eat desserts based on dairy products, such as cream, milk or yoghurt. It is available as chilled, frozen and shelf-stable products. It includes mousses, custards, milk puddings and ice cream products.
Dairy products: Products manufactured from milk. It includes as major product groups, cheese, yoghurt, butter, cream, fermented milk, ice cream and whey products. It is also called milk products.

8.1 General Description

Based upon ethnic values and culture, both private and common property land tenure regime is found in existence in the shifting cultivation system. In Odisha state of India, shifting cultivation locally called as podu, there exists both private and common property regime (Dash 2006). In case of Meghalaya state, while the private land ownership pattern does exist among the Khasi and Karbi tribes, the Garo tribes, on the other hand, resort to community land ownership pattern (Deb et al., 2013). Furthermore, an ethno-agrarian economy based on shifting cultivations is self-sufficient, and such shifting cultivators typically rely on outside sources for alleviation of their economic demands very infrequently, if at all (Gupta 1994). The use of human labour is the key input in the shifting cultivation system and the practice of mutual exchange of labour amongst these shifting cultivator communities is also not uncommon. In practices like harvesting, the groups of families join hands together to harvest the crop of each plot one by one. This practice of community labouring reduces drudgery and increases work productivity. During this harvesting time, it is said that farmers exchange their innovations and look at each other’s innovations as they work. Further, it is customary to arrange food and drinks by the family of the plot which is being harvested. The community recognizes these harvest periods as festive events which makes their work enjoyable. The case of village named Nawalparasi, Nepal, shows that shifting cultivators work in an innovative way in their community in which the part of the village land is set aside and is cultivated by the members of whole community jointly. The benefit they harvest from this area is used to fund for teachers’ salaries in community school (kerkhoff and Sharma 2006). Further, the close knit and kinship ties are not only necessary for labour sharing but also important for technology diffusion among the members (NAEB 2008). The division of labour exists between men and women. It varies from place to place. The Manipur shifting cultivation characteristics portray that the women predominate in seed selection and planting, weeding and other operations, the activities like cutting of the trees in jungle, clearing, burning are generally done by men Both men and women participate in harvesting of produce and so harvested produces are carried to the villages by head loading.

Abstract

Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D.Don) Soo, a plant species native to Indian Himalayas (Badola and Aitken, 2003; Ved et al., 2003), is one of 110 orchids known for their medicinal properties (Jain 1991; Lal et al., 2004). Known earlier as Orchis latifolia auct. non Linn., D. hatagirea has traditionally been used in indigenous system of medicine in India as ‘Hatajari’ or ‘Salam Panja’. The plant has therapeutic, ornamental and ecological significance (Gupta et al., 1998; Vij et al., 1992; Kala, 2000a). Due to over extraction from nature for medicinal use, the species has become threatened and categorized as critically endangered species (Ved and Tandon, 1998; Kala, 2000b; Ved et al., 2003; Bhattarai et al., 2014). This contribution provides insight into the botanical background, distribution, medicinal importance, threat status, cultivation and commercial aspects, and strategies for its conservation and sustainable utilization.

1. Introduction

Milk and milk products constitute essential dietary components for a vast majority of the population. India with annual production of more than 135.6 million tonnes has emerged as leading milk producing nation. The per capita per day availability of milk in India is more than 290 g. Buffalo milk accounts for 57% of the total milk produced in India. Ethnic dairy products account for 90% of all dairy products consumed (Aneja et al., 2002). Many health benefits have been attributed to fermented dairy products and probiotic microorganisms (Salminen et al., 1998). The market for functional foods, nutraceuticals, wellness foods and beverages is fast growing. The harmful effects of synthetic drinks have propelled health conscious consumers to go for natural and traditional drinks. In search of better returns, the Indian dairy industry is widening its focus to include traditional milk products, and these are emerging as new profit centres for the organised sector.

Traditional dairy products have several advantages. They require low capital investment and give high profit margin. They are more appealing to the Indian palate. Dahi or curd is the most popular indigenous fermented dairy product. There are numerous references to dahi in vedic literature. The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (Anon, 1976) describes dahi as a product obtained from pasteurized or boiled milk by souring (natural or otherwise), using harmless lactic acid or other bacterial cultures. Indian dahi and its western counterpart yoghurt differ considerably in terms of cultures used and their bouquet and flavour profiles (Aneja et al., 2002). The major flavor compound in dahi is diacetyl. Dahi made from buffalo milk has a firm body and white glossy appearance, with a cream layer on top. Mixed mesophilic cultures of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus lactis subsp diacetylactis along with Leuconostoc species are grown together for production of dahi.

Dahlia (Dahlia spp.) syn. Georgina belongs to family Compositae (Asteraceae). Dahlia was named after “Professor Andreas Dahl”, a Swedish pupil of Linnaeus and author of Observations Botanicae. In India, dahlia is grown as potted plant and landscape uses but it is a poor crop as commercial flower due to shorter commercial life and its potentialities have not been exploited so far. Therefore, there is need to originate more and more new quality cultivars. Dahlias are half-hardy perennials with tuberous roots. Stems are mostly erect, branched, glabrous or scabrous. The leaves 1-3 pinnate, with slightly serrated margin are produced opposite at each node on the stem. They bear flowers on a long, stiff stems well above the foliage. Ray florets are neutral or pinnate and disc florets perfect.

Dahlia (Dahlia spp.) syn. Georgina belongs to family Compositae (Asteraceae). Dahlia was named after “Professor Andreas Dahl”, a Swedish pupil of Linnaeus and author of Observations Botanicae. In India, dahlia is grown as potted plant and landscape uses but it is a poor crop as commercial flower due to shorter commercial life and its potentialities have not been exploited so far. Therefore, there is need to originate more and more new quality cultivars. Dahlias are half-hardy perennials with tuberous roots. Stems are mostly erect, branched, glabrous or scabrous. The leaves 1-3 pinnate, with slightly serrated margin are produced opposite at each node on the stem. They bear flowers on a long, stiff stems well above the foliage. Ray florets are neutral or pinnate and disc florets perfect.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The wild species of Dahlia are natives of Mexico and Central America, where some hybridization and selection had probably already occurred prior to their introduction into Europe at the end of the 18^th century (Crane et al., 1947 and Sorensen, 1969). The dahlia has been in Europe for over 200 years. It came from Mexico to the Botanical Gardens in Madrid towards the end of the 18^th century and was named by Abbe Cavanille in honour of Andreas Dahl, Swedish scientist-cum-environmentalist. The dahlia was introduced into England in 1803, but from a few varieties it soon had more than 300 varieties within the first 15 years. The initial named species imported into Europe were D. pinnata, D. rosea and D. coccinea. The first dahlias grown outside of Madrid were single (open-centred) and multi-ray open centre flowered, but it was not long before the horticultural growers of the day discovered the dahlia was a natural hybrid and when grown from seed, it readily changed its form and colour, Thus it has a range of different types. Further introduction, accompanied by hybridization and selection, have resulted in the production of a wide range of flower, forms and colours. Most of the garden types have been developed from D. variabilis. The first double flowered varieties were called Show and Fancy types. The show were self-coloured, ball like flowers, while the Fancy ones were multi-coloured.

During the mid 1800’s, these Show and Fancy flowers attained cult status with gardeners and several thousand different varieties were recorded. Other forms followed, in 1829 the first Anemone flowered dahlia appeared and then in 1850 the first Pompon was raised in Germany and was named after the bobble on a French sailor’s hat. The origin of the cactus and Decorative type belongs to the arrival of ‘Juarrezii’. According to the written records it was important as a piece of tuber from Mexico in 1872 to Holland. M. Van de Berg of Uttrecht received this so called species from Mexico and released stock of the variety in 1874. Subsequently, ‘Juarrezii’, named after a President of Mexico, was introduced into the UK by W. Cullingford a Vice President of the NDS and distributed by H. Cannell after 1880. Collerettes are the last form of dahlia to have been raised, that has their origin in France and is due to sporting of dahlias at Jardin Botanique de Lyon at the end of the 19^th century.

INTRODUCTION

In the world of flower, together with lilies, gladioli, begonias; the dahlias are one of the most important and popular flowering bulbs. With the blast of different colours, shape and sizes, dahlias bring life and beauty back to the landscape in late summer and autumn. The diversity of dahlias allows their usage in many different aspects due to huge range of flower types available and fairly easy cultivation.

In modern garden, dahlias are extensively used for exhibition, garden display and decoration. It can be grown in any form in the garden; in beds, in borders or even in mixed borders alongwith other plants. It grows well in pots also. For border purpose dwarf growing type are preferred while in pots usually large flowering dahlias are grown. The long stemmed flowers of various forms and colours are used in flower arrangement. Dahlias make excellent cut flowers, which typically last about a week in the house and are also used in making garlands.

The tubers of dahlias contain appreciable amount of insulin and fructose and small quantities of phytin and benzoic acid which are of medicinal and nutritional value. Flavanone 3-hydroxylase, which catalyses the conversion of flavanones to dihydro flavonols, was detected in flower extracts of cyanic strains of dahlia.

Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) belongs to the family Compositae and is a native of Mexico. Modern garden Dahlias with large blooms in wide array of colours are important flowering plant for Indian gardens. The range of forms, size and colours of the flowers is simply amazing. In the plains of India, Dahlias produce flower during winter season and usually grown as potted plants for display purpose. At suitable sunny locations, they are planted in beds also.

Classification

There is enormous variation in shape, size and flower colour of Dahlia. In addition, hundreds of cultivars are available for use in the garden. For having information on various groups having different flower structure, size etc., it is important to know classification. Garden Dahlias have been classified in the following major categories (based on the National Dahlia Society, United Kingdom).

Anemone - Flowers double having one or more rows of petals; disc florets tubular; ideal as cut flower for floral arrangement.

Ball - Flower head in ball-shape, fully double; petal tips ovate or round and rolled half length. There are large variation in the size of flower head and categorization.

Abtract: Dahlia, tuberous flowering plant, is valued for potted flowering and garden crop worldwide. The genus contains ~85 species native to Mexico, central America and Columbia. Numerous phenotypes (star/ anemone/ paeony/ decorative/ pompon/ cactus/ water lily flowered) and cultivars (giant/ large/ small/ miniature/ ball/ pompon/ mignon single) are available on world market. Cultivated dahlias are allotetraploids with great diversity in flower colour/ forms. Limited genetic information and trait heritability has been established for this crop. Precise elucidation of the genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway has enabled in the creation of new flower colours or modification of pigment production and expression discussed. Research succeeded in mutation breeding and interspecific hybridization and colourful dahlia varieties have been developed by individual enthusiasts, nurserymen and flower breeders. Complicated genetics, heterozygosity often pose significant challenges to breeders. Future crop ideotypes are proposed to continue transformation of this important crop during the next millennium.

Introduction

In modern garden, dahlias are extensively used for exhibition, garden display and decoration. It can be grown in any form in the garden; in beds, in borders or even in mixed borders along with other plants. It grows well in pot also. For border purpose dwarf growing type are preferred, while in pots usually large flowering dahlias are grown. The long stemmed flowers of various forms and colours are used in flower arrangement. Dahlias make excellent cut flowers, which typically last about a week in the house and are also used in making garlands.

The tubers of dahlias contain appreciable amount of insulin and fructose and small quantities of phytin and benzoic acid which are of medicinal and nutritional value.

Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis Desf., family: Asteraceae, origin: Mexico) is regarded as a premium specialty cut flower besides its utilization for garden decoration and growing as a potted flowering plant. The dahlia flower symbolizes elegance, inner strength, creativity and dignity. It is herbaceous rooted perennial valued for their majestic and attractive display of colourful spectacular flowers. The generic name “Dahlia” was coined by Swedish botanist “Andreas Dahl”. Dahlia was introduced in India during 1857 under the auspices of the “Agri-Horticultural Society of India”, Calcutta. Dahlia exhibit wide range of flower from and size ranging from miniatures (less than 2.5 cm across), to giant (more than 40 cm in diameter). Dahlia flowers profusely and its easy cultivation have made these very popular worldwide. The commercial value of this crop has been exploited in certain countries only. The Netherlands is claimed to be the largest producer of tuberous rooted dahlias. Other countries cultivating Dahlia as a specialty cut flower are Japan, France, South Africa, the U. K., Italy, Germany and the United States. The commercial cultivation of dahlia in Indian subcontinent is limited to hills and plains of Eastern India (Misra and Misra, 2017).

Holland takes the lead in dahlia bulb production cultivation neeary 400 ha, followed by France and Chile. There are 41 international associations concerned with the cultivation and spreading awareness about dahlia as a potential specialty cut flower and flowering potted perennial. Societies such as National Dahlia Society in the UK, the American Dahlia Society (ADS), other groups of New Zealand in European countries, France and Germany have been maintaining Dahlia germplasm for developing novel flower colour and breeding dahlias for their uniform and profuse flowering, longer flower duration, stem sturdiness and longer vase life.

Dahlia is a highly valued ornamental crop recognized for its large, colourful and diverse flower forms. This chapter introduces its origin, classification, botanical characteristics, genetic diversity and commercially important varieties. It discusses propagation through seeds, tubers and other methods, together with climate and soil requirements, planting, spacing, nutrient management, irrigation and crop regulation. Staking, pinching, disbudding and other cultural operations are explained for producing quality stems. The chapter also covers major insect pests, diseases, harvesting, postharvest handling, grading and yield. Its practical approach makes it useful for commercial growers and students of ornamental crop production.

INTRODUCTION
Maintenance scheduling involves planning, organizing, and coordinating the tasks required to ensure equipment operates efficiently. A maintenance schedule is a comprehensive plan that specifies the timing and frequency of maintenance activities for machinery, equipment, and facilities within an organization. Its primary goal is to maintain optimal functionality, minimize downtime, and extend the lifespan of assets. The schedule typically includes an inventory of assets, details of maintenance tasks, their frequency, assigned personnel, required documentation, and identification of resources necessary to complete the maintenance work.
IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING
A well-structured maintenance schedule is essential for ensuring efficient and reliable operations within the manufacturing industry. By using an effective maintenance scheduling system like MaintWiz CMMS, you can enjoy the following advantages:
• Improved Equipment Performance: Performing routine maintenance enhances the reliability of your equipment, which in turn leads to better overall performance and increased productivity.
• Enhanced Safety: Scheduled maintenance includes regular safety inspections, helping to reduce the likelihood of accidents and contributing to a safer working environment.
• Minimized Downtime: Regularly scheduled maintenance reduces the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns and helps to cut down on unplanned downtime, ensuring the smooth functioning of equipment.
• Optimized Resource Utilization: Scheduling maintenance tasks properly allows for the best allocation of resources, ensuring that tasks are completed based on priority and availability, which boosts operational efficiency.

The world’s greatest source of cow and buffalo diversity is India, and countries like Australia, South Africa, Latin America, and the USA employ Indian cattle breeds to grow their livestock industries. The number of cattle in the nation represents 17% of all cattle in the world. 22-25% of the Indian cow population is made up of the best native milk, draught, and dual-purpose animal genetics. The majority of local cattle breeds are excellent drafters. Native livestock breeds are clearly superior in their use of subpar feed, have better heat tolerance, and greater resistance to tropical diseases.

Origin & Distribution of Cattle

All types of domestic cattle belongs to class Mammalia, subclass Ungulata, order Artiodactyla, suborder Ruminantia, family Bovidae, subfamily Bovinae, tribe Bovini, which includes genus Bos. The aurochs or urus (Bos primigenius) is the probable ancestor of most of the present day Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle. The humped Bos primigenius namadicus were the forerunner of today’s zebu cattle while humpless Bos primigenius primigenius gave rise to modern European cattle. Both category of cattle possess the same number of chromosomes (2N=60). Other related animals in the Bovini tribe include the gaur cattle (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos banteng), kouprey (Bos sauveli) of South and East Asia, bison (Bison bison) of North America, European bison (Bison bonasus) and the yak (Poephagus mutus) of central Asia. According to Payne & Hodges (1997), domestication of aurochs (Bos primigenius ) took place first probably on the lower mountain slopes in the region of western Asia known as the ‘fertile crescent’. They suggested that the first domestic cattle were humpless (Bos taurus) Hamitic Longhorn type and were domesticated around possibly 9000 BP (years before the present i.e. 1950). About 2000 years later the humpless (Bos taurus) shorthorn type evolved or was developed in the region and these two types of humpless cattle are believed to the ancestor of Bos taurus. Humped (Bos indicus) zebu cattle were domesticated in the northwest arid areas of the Fertile Crescent around c. 5000 BP.

All across the world, the dairy industry is facing numerous problems and changes. Dairy development has received a considerable boost from factors including access to technical advancements, improvements in infrastructural facilities, and the development of modern marketing insights. It is interesting to see how the dairy sector is changing globally.

Dairy byproducts constitute an important segment of dairy industry. An important criterion in the economic choice of any process is the efficient utilization of byproduct that is produced along with the main product. The main byproducts of dairy industry are skim milk, buttermilk, whey and ghee residue. Each and every component of milk must be judiciously processed into edible form not only to improve the profitability of dairy industry but also to make best use of the unique nutritional value of the precious milk constituents on one hand, and to prevent environmental pollution, on the other. However, dairy plants, particularly in India, are usually confronted with the problem of byproduct utilization, especially that of whey and ghee residue in economical manner.

Skim milk is a byproduct obtained during the manufacture of cream. It is rich in solids-not-fat content and has high nutritional value. In dairy plants, it is mostly utilized either in standardization for the manufacture of main dairy products or preserved by removing moisture in milk powder form. The skim milk when utilized in either of these two forms or consumed as liquid, is not considered a byproduct. It is regarded as a byproduct only when it is either not economically utilized or utilized for derived byproducts, like casein and other related products, co-precipitates, protein hydrolyzates, etc.

Buttermilk is the byproduct obtained during butter manufacture. Sweet cream buttermilk resembles skim milk in gross chemical composition and is usually admixed with bulk of skim milk for further spray drying or even product manufacture in dairy plants. Desi buttermilk, on the other hand, has long been an important domestic beverage in India. It has high nutritive and therapeutic value. It also finds its way in the preparation of a host of culinary dishes such as kadhi, dhokla and idili. Also a number of federations and private plants sell salted and spiced buttermilk in 200 ml pouches.

Operation Flood and dairy cooperatives became India’s greatest rural employment programme, enabling the modernization of the dairy industry to a point from where it may take off to fulfill the need for milk and milk products within the nation as well as chances on the international market. An unorganized sector handles 80% of the milk a rural producer produces, and an organized sector handles the remaining 20%. It has been discovered that dairy cooperatives significantly contribute to reducing rural poverty by increasing rural milk production and marketing.

Livestock Population and it’s Economic Contribution

According to 18th Livestock census of India (2007), India has about 199.1 million cattle, which constitute 44.29 per cent of Asian and 12.7 per cent of the world cattle population. The current buffalo population is 105.34 million which accounts 57 per cent of Asian and 55 per cent of the world buffalos. The major output of the entire livestock sector is from the milk, which is the second most agricultural commodities next to paddy. According to the annual report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, during 2006-07, the contribution of milk alone (Rs.1,44,386 crore) was higher than paddy (Rs.85,032 crore), wheat (Rs.66,791 crore) and sugarcane (Rs.28,488 crore). The value of output from meat group animals as per estimates of Central Statistical Organization (CSO) at current prices was Rs. 34, 310 crore during 2006-07. Total export earnings from livestock, poultry and related products were Rs.5,213.80 crore during 2006-07. Eighty percent rural households keep livestock for their subsidiary income, important for employment, livelihood, nutrition, constant flow of quick and fast income, reduces the vulnerability of agricultural production. Trends indicate that animal protein consumption would rise proportionately with increase in income. The 18th Livestock Census (2007) has placed the total livestock population at 529.698 million and total of poultry birds at 648.830 million.

30.1 Introduction
Every food processing facility, especially those that produce several products, generates trash in various forms. The food products are rich in carbs, proteins, lipids, and mineral salts. During the process of flushing and washing various equipment, nutrients are released into the drainage, promoting the growth of both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. Consequently, the water that is flushed might have a highly unpleasant smell and could become a challenge for disposal in the municipal sewer system.

30.2 Definition of Waste Management
Waste management encompasses the collection, transportation, processing, recycling or disposal, and oversight of waste materials.

30.3 Types of Wastes in a Food Processing Plants
Waste produced in food processing plants can be categorized based on their form and origin, whether they are avoidable or unavoidable, their value, or their potential for reuse.

30.3.1 Based on the forms: Wastes based on forms can be classified as
1. Solid wastes,
2. Liquid wastes,
3. Oily wastes,
4. Gaseous wastes/water vapors.

Milk processing plants involve processing of raw milk into products like market milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, condensed milk, dried milks and traditional dairy products. The by-products processing includes buttermilk, whey and its derivatives. Dairy effluents contain dissolved sugar, protein, fat and minerals. Spills and leaks of products or by-products, residual milk or milk products in piping and equipment before cleaning, wash solutions from equipment and floors, condensate from evaporation processes and cheese trimmings are some of the sources of dairy effluents in a dairy plant. The key parameters are the biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids, total dissolved solids etc. Common dairy waste techniques include grease traps, oil water separators for separation of floatable solids, equalization tanks. Biological treatment consists of aerobic and anaerobic process.

The North-East Hilly Region (NER) has a good dairy and animal husbandry infrastructure and climatic condition conducive for raring high yielding dairy animals. Other than acting as a supplementary source of family nutrition, dairying is more as a source of livelihood as 90 per cent of the milk is sold out. The various dairy development programme and schemes launched in the region provide the necessary backward and forward linkages to the dairy farmers in term of feed and veterinary aids and collection, processing and marketing of milk. Considering the changing trends of competitiveness in the dairy market and dairy enterprise as such there is a need for a scientific and technological intervention to transform the traditional dairy farming system into a modern and profitable enterprise. The farmers need to be trained and exposed to modern dairy farming system in order to survive in the long run. The outlook for milk production has changed a lot and people are more concerned on the quality of milk and so necessary emphasis has to be made on clean milk production. To order to use the resources effectively and in order to sustain dairying there is a need to upgrade or replace the low yielding animals by high yielding breed/ variety. The SWOT analysis gives a strong signal for opportunities and avenues for further development of dairying in the region. To harness the opportunities of dairying a strong dairy supply chain need to be developed in an organized manner starting from milk producer to ultimate consumer.

Introduction
Demand of dairy products is on the rise in India. India‘s demand forecast for milk and milk products is more than the current supply of these products. To meet this demand entrepreneurship initiatives are need of the hour. Further, younger generations of India are more interested in commercial dairy farming rather than subsistence based farming. Therefore, scientific as well as commercial dairy entrepreneurial training to farmers about advanced technology used in breeding, feeding, housing and healthcare is essential.

a. Barriers for Entrepreneurship in dairy

An average dairy entrepreneur faces several barriers to start a new enterprise. Some of them are as under

    1.    Lack of financial support: A major stumbling block for many dairy farmers to expand production or diversify into new high value enterprises is lack of access to finance. Farmers who are starting new enterprises often face difficulty raising investment capital.