Abstract: In order to find out the optimal ripening time for improved taste of chicken during storage, the contents of inosinic acid (IMP) and amino acids in the skeletal muscles from different positions of 20-week-old female and male Menshan chickens were comparatively analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) during storage under different conditions. The results showed that IMP content was dramatically decreased during the first 8 hours of storage at room temperature with the result that the content of hypoxanthine, one of its decomposition products, was significantly increased (P＜0.05). During cold storage at 4 ℃, a slow decrease was observed in IMP content until day 5 followed by a stable trend and hypoxanthine content was significantly increased during day 3－4 (P＜0.05). At both storage temperatures, IMP content was higher in the breast muscle compared with the thigh muscle and the contents of IMP and related nucleotides in the muscle of female chicken were significantly higher than those of male chicken (P＜0.05). The percentage of flavor free amino acids in total amino acids showed a decreasing trend with prolonged storage time. For the thigh muscle, an extremely significantly decrease was observed between the fourth and eighth hours at room temperature and during day 4－5 (P＜0.01) at 4 ℃. In addition, no significant difference was observed between the female and male chickens. In conclusion, the optimal ripening time was 8 h at room temperature and 4 d at 4 ℃ during storage, respectively.

Key words: Mengshan chicken, meat, inosinic acid, amino acid