. Soetiarso, T. A. 2010. Consumer\u27s Perception and Preference on Product Attributes of SomeUnder-utilized (Minor) Vegetables. The study was aimed to identify consumer\u27s perception on some under-utilized(minor) vegetables product attributes that reflected their preferences. A consumer survey was carried out in Bandung,West Java from June to August 2006. Survey location were purposively selected, while 49 household mothers wererandomly chosen. Data were collected through interviews by using a structured questionnaire. Minor vegetablesincluded in this study were bitter gourd, water cress, ridged gourd, night shade, and basil. Consumer preferenceson product attributes of minor vegetables were analyzed by using a ranking technique and tested with Chi-square.Results indicated that basil and ridged gourd were more preferred by consumers than bitter gourd, night shade,and water cress. Those five minor vegetables were rarely consumed once a month or more by consumers. Twomain constraints of the low consumption as perceived by consumers were limited menu variation for water cress,ridged gourd, and basil and taste was not good for bitter gourd and night shade. In general, consumers consideredthe easiness to obtain the minor vegetables in the market as the most important product attribute and subsequentlyfollowed by taste, multi-USAge (for medicine), nutrition, storage life, and price. Meanwhile, consumer preferences onproduct attributes for each minor vegetables were as follow: (1) bitter gourd: medium length (20 cm), medium fruitdiameter (5 cm), less to much serrated of fruit surfaces, straight fruit shape, medium fruit hardness, greenish-whiteflesh color, thick flesh, less bitter, and less number of seeds, (2) water cress: light green leaf color, medium size ofbranch, medium to much number of leaves/branches, crispy leaves, and slightly sweet, (3) ridged gourd: light greenskin color, medium length (30 cm), medium diameter (5 cm), medium fruit hardness, straight fruit shape, white fleshcolor and less number of seeds, (4) night shade: light green fruit color, medium fruit size, crisp fruit hardness, muchnumber of fruits/branches and sweet taste, (5) basil: light to dark green leaves, medium leaf size (diameter 3.5 cm),medium to much number of leaves, medium to strong aroma, no flower, and much number of branches. Resultsof this consumer survey may be used as a preference-based feedback for improving the product attibutes of minorvegetables to increase their economic potentials.
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