Thirty two Santa Gertrudis young bulls with an initial weight of 230 kg and 9 months of age were used in a comparative slaughter experiment with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement with two concentrate levels, 80 and 20%, and two energetic ingredients in the concentrate, corn grain or pelletized citrus pulp. Four animals were slaughtered after the adaptation period for the determination of the initial body composition of lot and those that received diets with 80 and 20% of concentrate were slaughtered after 123 or 172 days, respectively. The treatment with 80% of corn grain based concentrate resulted in empty body weight gain of 1.038 kg/day, 40% greater than the others. The substitution of corn grain by citrus pulp decreased the body weight gain below those of the treatments with 20% concentrate, in which no difference due to energy source was observed. The chemical body composition, estimated by means of the 9-10-11th rib cut composition with equations obtained from another group of Santa Gertrudis animals, did not show differences among treatments.
body composition; citrus pulp; deposition rates; Santa Gertrudis young bulls
