Thirty-six young bulls (12 Nellore, 12 crossbed ½ Holstein x ½ Zebu, and 12 crossbred ½ Caracu x ½ Zebu) were used to evaluate the composition of the gain and the growth curves of corporal components. The growing animals had initial average weight of 225 kg, and the finishing ones, initial average weight of 332 kg. The animals were maintained in confinement regime to reach 310 to 340 kg of weight for the growing animals and 420 to 470 kg of weight for the finishing ones. A same diet was supplied ad libitum to all the animals. The corporal components of each animal were weighed and a representative sample of the section HH for evaluation of the carcasses physical components was collected. The contents of carcass muscle, carcass fatty tissue and carcass bone and the total of organs and visceral fatty tissue (VFT) in empty body were predict by the equation of regression of the logarithm of the content of these corporal components in the empty body, on the logarithm of the empty body weight - EBW (ARC, 1980). By deriving the equations above, the equations of prediction of the participation of the corporal components in the gain of 1 kg of empty body weight (EBWG) were obtained. In each genetic group, all the characteristics were significantly correlated with the EBW of the animal. The results showed that the bone tissue was of more precocious maturity in the carcass. VFT was the highest alometric coefficient to the ½ Holstein x ½ Zebu animals. The milk aptitude reduced the participation of the carcass in the EBWG, as the participation of the organs in this gain increased. The positive alometric development of muscle, the smaller increase velocity in the carcass fatty tissue gain and the smaller decrease velocity in the carcass bone gain in the finishing phase, in Nelore animals may be caused by Nelore compensatory growth.
body development; composition of the gain; crosssbred; Nellore
