1H NMR-based metabolic characterization of Chinese Wuding chicken meat

The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of precursor flavor substance of Wuding chicken with the age of 110, 140, 170, 200 and 230 days. The metabolic composition of chicken meat was studied using H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Compared with 110 days, the total metabolite content was significantly higher in other four periods for the chicken breast and leg meat (P < 0.01). Organic acid and small peptides were the two most metabolites for the chicken breast and leg meat. Comprehensive multivariate data analysis showed significant differences about precursor substance between the chicken samples of 230 days and other four ages including lactate, creatine, IMP, glucose, carnosine, anserine, taurine and glutamine (P < 0.05). These results contribute to a further understanding of changes in chicken meat metabolism as chicken ages, which could be used to help assess the quality of chicken meat.