In order to explore the characteristic flavor compounds and to infer the possible main flavor precursors in irradiated pigeon meat, the changes of volatile compounds and lipid metabolites in irradiated pigeon meat were analyzed by headspace solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UPLCT-riple-TOF MS/MS). The results showed that hydrocarbon and aldehydes were the major volatile components in pigeon meat. There were 10 key flavor components identified, among which, nonanal, (E)-2-hexenal, decanal, hexanal, (E)-2-octenal, (E,E)-2,4-nonadienal, octanal, 2,4-decadienal, and 1-octen-3-ol substances were derived from lipid oxidation, and nonanal aldehydes such as aldehydes, decanal, and hexanal may be generated by the decomposition of oleic and linoleic acids. Fatty acids (FA), AcylCarnitine, plasmenylPE, GlcCer_NDS, AcyGlcADG, lysoPC, Cer_BS, and lysoPS were identified as significantly differential lipid subclasses. Among the 30 lipid molecules with variable importance in the projection (VIP) scores higher than two, 6 contained oleic acid (C_18:1) and 10 contained linoleic acid (C_18:2). Oleic acid and linoleic acid, precursors for the formation of the characteristic flavor substances of pigeon meat, may be generated by the degradation of these 16 lipid molecules.

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.