Utilization of agri-horticultural crops/wastes for making dry and value-added products to generate employment

The present investigations apart from cultivated flower crops and native flora, the agri-horticultural crops/waste like maize, bajra, sorghum, cotton, sesamum, linseed, wheat, coconut, leek, sponge gourd etc were utilized for making dry flower products like dry flower arrangements, sticks, maize sheath dolls, greeting cards, dry flower wall-pictures, floral designs, pomanders, pot-pourries and other gift items which are in high demand today. Different dyes like fabric, indicator, food and bio-colours were used to enhance the value of dried flowers for aesthetic beautification and product diversification. The findings revealed that among four different categories of dyes, fabric dye (yellow, dark green, violet and pink) and indicator dye (Brilliant Green, Eosin Yellow, Crystal Violet, Methylene Blue and Metanil Yellow) were found excellent in performance when used for dyeing bajra spikes and maize (Brilliant Green and Eosin Yellow) spathe and scored maximum for quality parameters even after ten months of storage in bajra spikes. Quality parameters in case of food dyes were medium to high at the time of dyeing in bajra and low to medium in maize spathe. Out of the bio-colours, turmeric was quite satisfactory, whereas coffee, lilium pollen and punica were very poor in performance when used for dyeing bajra spikes.