The production fractions of charged and neutral b-hadrons in b-quark events from Z(0) decays have been measured with the DELPHI detector at LEP. An algorithm has been developed, based on a neural network, to estimate the charge of the weakly-decaying b-hadron by distinguishing its decay products from particles produced at the primary vertex. From the data taken in the years 1994 and 1995, the fraction of (b) over bar -quarks fragmenting into positively charged weakly-decaying b-hadrons has been measured to be: f(+) = (42.09+/-0.82(stat)+/-0.89(syst))%. Subtracting the rates for charged Xi(b)(+) and Omega(b)(+) baryons gives the production fraction of B+ mesons: f(Bu) = (40.99+/-0.82(stat)+/-1.11 (syst)) %. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
