Consumer Preference Testing of Boiled Sweetpotato Using Crowdsourced Citizen Science in Ghana and Uganda

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah¹  Kauê de Sousa²  Tawanda Muzhingi³  Jacob van Etten⁴  Mariam Nakitto⁵  Sam Namanda⁵  Eric K. Dery⁶  Edward Carey⁶  Reuben Ssali⁶  Daniel Akansake⁶  Hannele Lindqvist-Kreuze⁷  Mukani Moyo⁸ 

[1] Council for Scientific and Industrial Research–Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Nyankpala, Ghana;Department of Agricultural Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, Norway;Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States;Digital Inclusion Area, Bioversity International, Maccarese, Italy;International Potato Center, CGIAR Program on Roots Tubers and Bananas, Kampala, Uganda;International Potato Center, CGIAR Program on Roots Tubers and Bananas, Kumasi, Ghana;International Potato Center, CGIAR Program on Roots Tubers and Bananas, Lima, Peru;International Potato Center, CGIAR Program on Roots Tubers and Bananas, Nairobi, Kenya;

关键词: tricot approach;    crop evaluation;    underutilized crops;    Ipomoea batatas;    West Africa;    East Africa;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fsufs.2021.620363

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Crowdsourced citizen science is an emerging approach in plant sciences. The triadic comparison of technologies (tricot) approach has been successfully utilized by demand-led breeding programmes to identify varieties for dissemination suited to specific geographic and climatic regions. An important feature of this approach is the independent way in which farmers individually evaluate the varieties on their own farms as “citizen scientists.” In this study, we adapted this approach to evaluate consumer preferences to boiled sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] roots of 21 advanced breeding materials and varieties in Ghana and 6 released varieties in Uganda. We were specifically interested in evaluating if a more independent style of evaluation (home tasting) would produce results comparable to an approach that involves control over preparation (centralized tasting). We compiled data from 1,433 participants who individually contributed to a home tasting (de-centralized) and a centralized tasting trial in Ghana and Uganda, evaluating overall acceptability, and indicating the reasons for their preferences. Geographic factors showed important contribution to define consumers' preference to boiled sweetpotato genotypes. Home and centralized tasting approaches gave similar rankings for overall acceptability, which was strongly correlated to taste. In both Ghana and Uganda, it was possible to robustly identify superior sweetpotato genotypes from consumers' perspectives. Our results indicate that the tricot approach can be successfully applied to consumer preference studies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown