Abstract: Inosinic 5’-Monophosphosphate (IMP) and Inosine (I) content variations in breast meat of Wenchang chicken were studied. The test time for cold stored meat (0～2℃) was 1～10 d and frozen meat (-20℃) was 20～90 d. The results showed that the IMP in meat stored at 0～2℃ decreases gradually from 2 h after slaughter. Though the decrease was significant (p<0.01), the meat is still quite good quality at 4 d storage with 73% of the original IMP left. The IMP content in frozen meat (-20℃)stored is about the same as that of cold stored 1～2 d meat. The IMP dontent of 90 d frozen meat is not less than that of cold stored 10 d meat. However the variation trend of inosine was contrary to that of IMP. The empirical variation of IMP content of cold stored meat with storage days ( t ) is: IMP = 0.014t2-0.295t + 3.546 (with adjusted R2 = 0.877), and that for frozen meat is: IMP = -0.018t + 3.470 (with adjusted R2 = 0.823).

Key words: Wenchang chicken； inosinic 5&rsquo, -monophosphosphate； storage； temperature； time；