Consumer Preferences for the Attributes of Equine Oil Supplements

dc.contributor.advisorChen, Danhong
dc.contributor.committeeMemberUllrich, Doug R
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSivankutty Nair, Shyam
dc.creatorHansen, Rachel Deming
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-09T14:27:39Z
dc.date.available2023-01-09T14:27:39Z
dc.date.created2022-12
dc.date.issued2022-12-01T06:00:00.000Z
dc.date.submittedDecember 2022
dc.date.updated2023-01-09T14:27:40Z
dc.description.abstractThe equine nutrition market is expected to grow with higher household disposable income. However, there is hardly any research on consumer attitudes toward equine oil, a key supplement to promote healthy weight gain for horses. The objective of this study was to understand consumers’ preferences regarding the nutrition, product, and package attributes of equine oil supplements when making purchase decisions. Among 110 equine owners or renters who responded to the anonymous online survey, approximately 64.55% had used fat supplements for their horses, and 23.64% had tried rice bran oil in particular. When rating the importance of nutritional attributes on a scale of one to five, consumers identified the following three factors as the most important: horses find the oil highly palatable and do not refuse to consume it (mean = 4.10), promoting weight gain for hard keepers (mean = 4.03), and good source for fat supplementation (mean = 3.90). Consumers considered being grown and made in the USA (mean = 3.44), top dress on current ration (mean = 3.11), and family or farmer owned (mean = 2.99) as the most critical product attributes. In terms of packaging, unit price per ounce (mean = 3.85) and ease of use (mean = 3.56) were the most important, and 90.91% of participants would prefer that an equine oil supplement be packaged in bulk with a pump dispenser. The findings from this study will shed light on the packaging and labeling practices of equine oil supplements and provide guidance on how to promote their nutritional benefits.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.uri
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/3817
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.subjectAgriculture, Animal Culture and Nutrition
dc.subjectBusiness Administration, Marketing
dc.subjectAgriculture, General
dc.titleConsumer Preferences for the Attributes of Equine Oil Supplements
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Science and Engineering Technology
thesis.degree.departmentAgricultural Sciences
thesis.degree.disciplineAgriculture
thesis.degree.grantorSam Houston State University
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science

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