Doctoral Degrees (Horticulture)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Horticulture) by Subject "Apples -- Consumer preference -- South Africa"

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    Preference of South African consumers for the eating quality and appearance of apples
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Idun, Irene Akua; Steyn, Wiehann J.; Muller, M.; Theron, K. I.; Naes, T.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Horticulture.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Considering that 27% of South Africa’s apple crop is sold locally, we aimed to determine the attributes that drive South African consumers’ apple eating quality and appearance preferences. Since a previous study focused on consumers from Stellenbosch in the Western Cape Province, we focused on consumers from Pretoria in Gauteng Province as well as consumers from Durban in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of varying age (18-25, 26+), gender and socio-economic backgrounds. Consumer preference analysis for apple eating quality and appearance, and descriptive sensory analysis were performed on nine commercial apple cultivars selected to obtain large variations in the various eating quality attributes and not compared to each other per se. On average, young (18-25) white and Indian consumers were found to prefer firm, sour cultivars and green peel colour but disliked mealiness and sponginess. Black, older and male consumers generally preferred sweetness, but disliked sourness. Appearance preferences were generally consistent with eating quality preferences. Consumers’ actual liking scores generally also associated with their conceptual preferences, except in the case of unfamiliar cultivars. Ward’s statistical clustering indicated three consumer clusters with distinct preferences for both eating quality and appearance. Eating quality clusters 1 and 2 (E1 and E2) liked sweet taste, tolerated mealiness but disliked sour taste. E1 also associated with sponginess, but E2 did not. E3 liked sensory attributes relating to firmness, tolerated sour taste but disliked mealiness and sponginess. E1 and E2 were overrepresented with black and older (26+) consumers while young white and young Indian consumers were overrepresented in E3. Compared to international studies, the sweet-liking consumer group seemed to be larger in South Africa due to the general sweet taste preference of black consumers. However, since black consumers make up the majority of the total South African population, firm and sour apples should also be marketed to these consumers. Appearance cluster 1 (A1) preferred red and green/yellow apples, A2 preferred red and green apples while A3 preferred green apples. Ripening-related changes in eating quality attributes and appearance with increasing shelf-life duration impact significantly on consumer preference. We studied the preferences of different ethnic and age groups for ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Topred’ apples of varying ripeness levels. Coloured consumers, but older coloured consumers in particular, showed little to no difference in preference for the eating quality and appearance of riper, softer apples compared to less ripe, firmer apples. White and black consumers showed a decrease in liking with increasing shelf life duration. The shelf-life of apples could possibly be extended in outlets favoured by coloured consumers. Black consumers do not seem to have a high preference for riper apples as suggested by the previous Western Cape study. Rather, their high preference for sweetness results in some tolerance of riper apples. Peel colour did not provide a good indication of eating quality characteristics. In ‘Topred’, the red overcolour masked yellowing while in ‘Golden Delicious’, eating quality attributes changed much less than peel colour.