Vegetable consumption of the students of Khulna university in Bangladesh​

It is often uttered that the young aged persons, particularly the students, are much reluctant in consuming sufficient amount of vegetables for supporting sound body functioning. The students of Khulna university have not yet been assessed regarding this issue. The study was conducted mainly to determine the vegetable consumption behavior of the students of Agrotechnology Discipline of Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh. Data were collected from randomly selected one hundred twenty students of four batches of four different sessions (admission years: 2015 to 2018) of Agrotechnology Discipline on selected nine characteristics of the students along with their vegetable consumption behavior, through personal interview using an interview schedule during July-August, 2018. The overall average vegetable consumption rate by the students was 128.15 g/day/student. Most (95%) of the respondents showed low vegetable consumption behavior, while a few (4.17%) and very few (0.83%) students consumed above standard (>235 g/day/student) and standard (235 g/day/student) amount of vegetables respectively. All (100%) of the male students consumed below standard quantity of vegetables while most (90%) of the female students consumed below standard quantity of vegetables. But a few (8.3%) and a very few (1.67%) of female students consumed above standard and standard amount of vegetables, respectively. Most (95%) of the students, residing both halls and outside of the university campus, consumed below standard amount of vegetables followed by above standard and standard amount of vegetables. Female students consumed more vegetables (166.24 g/day/student) than the males (90.04 g/day/student) which differed significantly (t=9.73549; p<0.01). The students who resided outside of the halls consumed more quantity of vegetables (133.87 g/day/student) than the students residing in the halls (121.93 g/day/student) which also differed significantly (t=1.14668; p<0.01). Among the 10 selected characteristics of the respondents, only farm size (p<0.05) and nutritional knowledge (p<0.01) showed positive significant relationship with their overall vegetable consumption behavior. On the other hand, the annual family income, participation in co-curricular activities related organization, participation in co-curricular activities showed a negative significant relationship (p<0.01) with their overall vegetable consumption behavior. The hall authority of the university as well as guardians should take necessary initiatives to supply more amounts of vegetables in the diet of the students to ensure adequate amount of vegetable consumption.