MASS CORRECTIONS OF ORDER ALPHA(S)2M(B)2/M(Z)2 TO THE AXIAL Z-BOSON DECAY-RATE

QCD corrections to the decay rate of the Z-boson are affected by the non-vanishing mass of the b-quark. Large logarithms of M(Z)2/m(b)2 are absorbed through the use of the running b-quark mass. We analytically calculate the next-to-leading corrections to the axial part of the hadronic Z-decay rate in the order alpha(s)2m(b)2/M(Z)2. The corrections are found to be remarkably small.