Abstract: To investigate the impact of γ-ray and electron beam(EB)irradiation on the microbial content and bacterial community diversity of cold fresh chicken,vacuum packaging cold fresh chicken was treated through 2.5 kGy dose of γ-ray and electron beam irradiation. The results showed that the two kinds of rays could significantly reduce the total bacterial count in cold fresh chicken,and the 16S rDNA flora analysis showed that there were 9 phylums with 62 kinds of genera in the cold fresh chicken. Proteobacteria,Firmicutes,Fusobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the dominant bacteria at the phylum level. At the genus level,Brochothrix,Shewanella and Acinetobacter were the dominant bacteria during the early stage of storage(0 d)of control group. When stored 5 d,Shewanella in the control group,Psychrobacter in the γ-ray group,and Shewanella in the EB processing group were the dominant flora. When stored 10 d,Psychrobacter in the control group,Acinetobacter in the γ-ray group,and Shewanella in the EB processing group were the dominant flora. When stored 15 d,Psychrobacter in the control group,Shewanella in γ-ray group,and Shewanella in EB processing group became dominant flora. As a result,both of γ-ray and electron beam irradiation had a significant(P<0.05)effect on the microbial contents and structure of community of cold fresh chicken.