Pet and owner acceptance of dry dog foods manufactured with sorghum and sorghum fractions

Abstract

Globally sorghum is an important cereal crop with limited use in the pet food industry. Pet food acceptance and palatability assessments relate to both pet owners as the product purchasers and the pets as the actual consumers. Pet foods containing sorghum or sorghum fractions have not been studied for both animal and pet owner acceptance. The objectives of this study were to 1) understand animal acceptance between sorghum dog food diets and compared to a control, 2) assess consumer acceptance of the dog food products. Thirty dogs of different size and breed were fed three dry dog food diets containing different sorghum fractions and one control diet containing wheat, rice, and maize using the one-bowl in home use test. Results indicated that no difference was observed among diets, and sorghum samples were accepted at the same level as the control diet during the test. A total of 105 pet owners evaluated the samples for appearance, color, aroma, and overall liking. The consumer panel found the whole sorghum and the control samples to be accepted at the same level. These results suggested that sorghum may be suitable for dry dog food formulations.