Utilizing Consumer Perception of Edamame to Guide New Variety Development

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

卷:4

Jeremy Ross¹  Clinton Neill²  Thomas Kuhar³  Yun Yin⁴  Dajun Yu⁴  Sean O'Keefe⁴  Haibo Huang⁴  Susan Duncan⁴  Renata Carneiro⁴  Steve Rideout⁵  Mark Reiter⁶  Pengyin Chen⁷  Bo Zhang⁸  Anne Gillen⁹ 

[1] Cooperative Extension Service, Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR, United States;

[2] Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States;

[3] Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States;

[4] Department of Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States;

[5] Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, Virginia Tech, Painter, VA, United States;

[6] Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Painter, VA, United States;

[7] Fisher Delta Research Center, University of Missouri, Portageville, MO, United States;

[8] School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States;

[9] USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Crop Genetics Research Unit, Stoneville, MS, United States;

关键词: edamame;    vegetable soybean;    Glycine max (L.) Merr.;    sensory;    consumer;    plant breeding;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fsufs.2020.556580

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Consumption of edamame (vegetable soybeans) has increased significantly in the U.S. over the last 20 years. Although market demand has been increasing, most edamame is still imported from Asian countries. A team of multistate plant-breeding programs in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. has focused on developing new breeding lines that grow well in the U.S. and deliver what domestic growers, processors and consumers need and expect from their edamame. In our study, sensory evaluation was used to identify edamame genotypes and sensory attributes preferred by consumers to support breeding selection criteria. In the first year (reported as our “screening study”), 20 edamame genotypes were grown in three locations: Newport, AR, and Blacksburg and Painter, VA. In the second year (reported as our “validation study”), 10 edamame genotypes selected after our screening study were grown in Blacksburg and Painter, VA, Portageville, MO, and Stoneville, MS. In both years of research, untrained participants (adults; vegetable consumers not allergic to soy; N ≥ 50) used a traditional 9-point acceptability (hedonic) scale (1 = “dislike extremely”; 9 = “like extremely”) to evaluate overall-liking, aroma, appearance, taste, and texture, and a 5-point scale (1 = “not sweet,” 5 = “extremely sweet”) to evaluate sweetness intensity. Next, participants used a check-all-that-apply (CATA) list of selected sensory terms to describe the sensory characteristics of each edamame sample. Overall acceptability of edamame genotypes was significantly different among all genotypes (p < 0.05). Samples described as “bitter,” “sour” (flavor) or “starchy” (texture) were associated with lower acceptability scores while “salty” and “sweet” (flavor) were correlated with higher acceptability. Sensory data from the screening study were used to select the best genotypes by use of a defined decision process based on the consumer data. The validation study tested the selection decisions and further supported the genotype choices. Sensory evaluation is a powerful tool to direct breeders to improve market acceptability and develop new edamame genotypes. Both screening and validation studies illustrate the significant role of consumer sensory data in support of genotypes targeted for domestic (U.S.) production.

【 授权许可】

Unknown