Fresh cassava peel (Manihot esculenta) has a potential used as a ruminant feed due to advantages such as a high amount of soluble carbohydrates with high digestibility. This agroindustrial residue could provide the energy necessary for animal production in situations where the availability of feed is limited, because it is cheaper than commodities such as corn. Eight Holstein cows (480 ± 24 kg BW and 88 ± 17 d in milk) were allotted in a double Latin-Square design (4 × 4) to evaluate the effect of the replacement of corn by cassava peel in the diets on performance of dairy cows. Each experimental period lasted 21 d, 14 d for adaptation and 7 d for sampling. Diets were isonitrogenous (12.8% ± 1.0 CP, DM basis) and composed of 37.5% concentrate and 62.5% corn silage and Tifton hay. Treatments were defined by 4 replacement levels of corn by cassava peel: 0, 33, 66, and 100% (DM basis). The data were analyzed by using the MIXED procedure (SAS Inst. Inc.). Orthogonal polynomials for diet responses were determined by linear and quadratic effects. Effects were declared significant at P ≤ 0.05. The replacement of corn by cassava peel linearly decreased (P ≤ 0.05) dry matter (DM) intake (17.0, 17.0, 16.0, and 16.07 kg.d⁻¹ for 0, 33, 66, and 100% of replacement) and organic matter (OM) intake. Crude protein (CP) intake and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake did not differ (P ≥ 0.05) among treatments. DM digestibility (65.2, 54.4, 46.7 and 44.2% for 0, 33, 66, and 100% of replacement corn by cassava peel), CP digestibility, OM digestibility and NDF digestibility also linearly decreased (P ≤ 0.05) with the replacement of corn by cassava peel. In addition, there was a linear decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in milk production (20.0, 20.0, 19.0 and 18.0 kg.d⁻¹ of replacement corn by cassava peel). Although cassava peel decreased parameters evaluated, the replacement of corn with cassava peel may be interesting in locations near to starch industry, as well as cows with low nutritional requirements.