Trends in Sensory Quality of Roasted Peanuts Across 15 Years (1986–2000)

Abstract

Abstract Enhancement of flavor of roasted peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has been a long-standing objective of the peanut industry. Studies relative to roasted peanut flavor variation have separated the effects of genotype, environment, and genotype-by-environment interaction on the sensory attributes roasted peanut, sweet, bitter, and astringent. Much of the focus of these studies has been on the genotypic variation and the possibility of genetic improvement of peanut flavor. However, most of the variation in sensory attributes is caused by non-genetic factors. Years were found to be the largest single source of variation for the sensory attributes roasted peanut and bitter. Because roasted peanut is the sensory attribute most important to the peanut consumer, it is important to know if the observed year effects varied randomly or if there was any directional trend in peanut flavor over time. Examination of a 15-yr data set for directional trends in peanut flavor indicated that all three sensory attributes (roasted peanut, sweet, and bitter) exhibited adverse trends across the span of this study. These trends were independent of whether or not the effects of years were unadjusted for other effects or adjusted for the effects of regions, locations within regions, and the covariates fruity attribute intensity and roast color. The nature of the evident trends, i.e., whether they were linear or curvilinear, was often affected by adjustment. Changes in sensory quality of a single cultivar over time are likely due to changes in prevailing cultural practices such as rotations and chemicals applied to the peanut crop. It was not clear whether consumers would have noticed the change in sensory quality over time because the trends within individual cultivars were confounded with changes in the dominant runner-type cultivars with variable sensory quality marketed over the span of the study.