The objective of this trial was to investigate the effects of replacing cornby coffee hulls on intake, apparent digestibility, and milk production and compositionof lactating dairy cows. Treatments contained one of the following four levelsof coffee hulls: 0, 5, 10 or 15% of the total dietary DM. Twelve Holstein dairycows were blocked by days in milk and randomly assigned to three replicated4 x 4 Latin squares. Diets were isonitrogenous averaging 15.5% of CP and composedby 60% of corn silage and 40% of concentrate on DM basis. Replacing corn withcoffee hulls did not affect the intake of EE. However, intakes of DM, OM, CP,TC, and NFC as well as dietary TDN all decreased linearly with the inclusionof coffee hulls in the diet. Apparent total tract digestibilities of DM, OM,CP, TC, NDF, and NFC also reduced linearly by increasing the proportion of dietarycoffee hulls. Conversely, NDF intake increased linearly when coffee hulls replacedcorn in the diet. No significant differences on milk yield as well as yieldsand contents of fat, protein, total solids, and solids nonfat were observedby including coffee hulls in the diet. Feeding balances (milk yield gross income feeding costs) per cow and per liter of milk both increased linearly by partiallyreplacing corn with coffee hulls. It can be concluded that coffee hulls canreplace up to 15% of the corn in the diet with no detrimental effects on production.
