Hort. Sci. (Prague), 2022, 49(4):189-196 | DOI: 10.17221/8/2022-HORTSCI

Preferences in sweet cherry fruits among consumers in Serbia and Bosnia and HerzegovinaOriginal Paper

Gorica Paunović ORCID...¹, Đurađ Hajder ORCID...², Aleksandra Korićanac ORCID...³, Boris Pašalić ORCID...², Ivan Glišić ORCID...¹, Tatjana Jovanović-Cvetković ORCID...², Miljan Cvetković ORCID...²

¹ Faculty of Agriculture in Čačak, University of Kragujevac, Čačak, Serbia

² Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

³ Fruit research Institute, Čačak, Serbia

The introduction of new varieties in fruit production should consider consumer attitudes regarding the appearance and taste of the fruits. In order to evaluate the consumer attitudes in Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H), on the most important characteristics of cherry fruits, an online survey was conducted with 402 respondents. Participation in the survey was taken by 53.23% of respondents from Serbia and 46.77% from B&H, most of which were women (54.23%). Consumers expressed their views on the most important external (fruit colour, fruit shape, fruit size, presence of a stalk on the fruit, length of the stalk and the presence of damage to the fruit) and internal (fruit taste, fruit firmness) characteristics of the fruit. According to the results, the attitude toward the fruit size, the presence of a stalk and the stalk length, as well as fruit firmness was dependent upon respondents' residence. Both male and female respondents had similar attitudes toward the cherry characteristics except for the fruit taste and the most important cherry characteristics. The age of a respondent influenced the attitude toward the fruit size and the presence of a stalk, as well as the fruit firmness.

Keywords: survey; attitude; characteristics; appearance; taste

Received: January 1, 2022; Accepted: July 7, 2022; Prepublished online: December 16, 2022; Published: December 22, 2022  Show citation