Compositional data on Belgian Blue double-muscled bulls

Compositional data of 17 Belgian Blue double-muscled bulls with empty body weight between 276 and 669 kg were analysed. Body composition only changed slowly and linearly within the investigated live weight range. Water, prote in, fat and ash in the empty body varied between 65.8 and 72.0%, 18.9 and 2 1.2%, 3.5 and 9.7% and 3.0 and 4.% respectively. The chemical fat content i n the empty body was remarkably low. The percentage of accreted energy as p rotein always remained higher than 50% of the total accreted energy, which is much higher than generally reported in literature. Caloric values for pr otein and fat were: 22.91 (+/- 0.90) MJ.kg(-1) and 38.74 (+/- 1.53) MJ.kg(- 1) respectively. Carcass protein contained on average (in %) 8.8 Asp, 15.6 Glu, 5.3 Pro, 7.7 Gly, 6.6 Ala, 7.5 Leu, 7.4 Lys and 6.5 Arg, while the pro tein in the non-carcass parts contained (in %) 8.0 Asp, 12.7 Glu, 8.8 Pro, 15.1 Gly, 8.0 Ala, 6.6 Leu, 5.6 Lys and 7.2 Arg. The protein composition pr oved to be rather constant for the considered live weight range.