Nutritional Value of Almond Hulls for Dairy Cows

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Abstract
Commercial, Nonpareil and Neplus almond hulls containing 31.5 and 13.2, 27.5 and 11.7, and 27.6 and 9.8% acid detergent fiber and lignin, respectively, were fed in 2 digestion studies. Digestibilities of control, 20 and 40% commercial almond hull, 20 and 40% Nonpareil, and 20 and 40% Neplus diets for dry matter were, respectively; 70.4; 67.3, 65.4; 68.7, 66.3; 69.9 and 66.4; and for energy were 70.1; 65.8, 63.9; 68.6, 64.7; 69.6 and 63.5%. Percent digestibilities of dry matter and energy calculated by regression were 56.7 and 51.0 for commercial, 62.4 and 58.7 for Nonpareil, and 63.1 and 57.5 for Neplus almond hulls. Digestibilities of hulls were correlated with acid detergent fiber content. Diets with 0 (control), 12.5 and 25% commercial almond hulls were fed to 24 lactating Holstein cows for 4-wk periods in a 3 .times. 3 Latin square with 8 cows/cell. Feed dry matter intake (kg/day), milk yield (kg/day), and percent milk fat were 21.8, 24.9 and 3.20 for control, 23.0, 25.2 and 3.20 for 12.5% almond hulls, and 22.7, 24.7 and 3.23 and 25% almond hulls. Performances were similar for substitution of almond hulls for alfalfa. Exposure to more than 2.5 cm of rain increased loss of soluble sugars with a concurrent increase in percent acid detergent fiber up to 7.6 cm of rain. The loss amounted to about 25% of the energy of the hulls.

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