Spent coffee ground as second-generation feedstuff for dairy cattle

Abstract

EU countries are the most important worldwide coffee consumers with about 2.52 million tons. Coffee processing and consumption lead to substantial amounts of residues, mainly coffee silver skin and spent coffee grounds (SCG) as follows: 1 kg of coffee generates around 2 kg of wet SCG. Around 46\% of this total SCG generation is landfilled with the subsequent soil, water and air pollution. So, an alternative solution for large SCG volumes currently sent to landfills is necessary. Livestock products are projected to increase up to by 70\% by 2050. Many of the ingredients in the diets of EU livestock are sourced from imported raw materials from the Americas: mainly soybeans, etc. This deficit presents already a risk to social, economic and environmental progress in Europe due to the increasing scarcity of global resources. Hence, the inclusion of biowaste in animal feed is necessary to lead to additional benefits for animal feed sector: availability of environmentally friendly ingredient sources and decrease of dependence on foreign sources. This study demonstrates that coffee spent ground stands as a potential alternative ingredient in dairy cattle due to their availability in Europe, their nutritional characteristics and the results of the growing trials with animals: feeding of 5\% SCG in the concentrate did not affect milk yields or fat contents and only a negligible decrease in crude protein (by 1.8\%). This is because SCG was formulated as a functional ingredient in the concentrate and therefore would not impair animal performance.