Abstract: Chilled pigeon meat was irradiated with different doses of 60Co-γ rays, and the effect of irradiation on the quality and lipid oxidation of chilled pigeon meat was investigated through the determination of biochemical and physicochemical indexes, volatile flavor components and microstructure observation. The results showed that with an increase in irradiation dose, the a* value, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value, juice loss percentage, peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value and acid value increased significantly (P < 0.05), and total bacterial number (TBN), L* value, b* value and texture parameters decreased significantly (P < 0.05); the diameter of muscle fibers decreased significantly (P < 0.05) and the gap between muscle fibers increased; and the contents of total, saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids increased significantly (P < 0.05), while the contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased significantly (P < 0.05), indicating that irradiation treatment can promote the oxidative hydrolysis of lipids into free fatty acids and the decomposition of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pigeon meat. A total of 73 volatile components belonging to 8 chemical classes were detected in pigeon meat. Among them, hydrocarbons and aldehydes were most abundant, indicating that lipid oxidation has an important impact on the flavor of irradiated pigeon meat. The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the application of irradiation in the processing of livestock and poultry meat.

Key words: chilled pigeon meat; γ-ray irradiation; lipid oxidation; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry