Poultry Feed from Genetically Modified Plants

The growing World population and limited natural resources require a more efficient utilization and conversion of resources in available phytogenic biomass. In the future there will be a very strong competition for arable land or phytogenic biomass resp. between food/feed, fuel, fibre and further industrial materials as well as areas for settlements and natural conservation. Therefore plant breeding should focus on high yielding plants with low external inputs (Low Input Varieties). Apart from traditional plant breeding, plant biotechnology may contribute to this objective.Presently, we are in an initial phase of this breeding technology. The cultivation of genetically modified plants (GMP) increased from 1.7 (1996) to about 148 million ha (2010), i.e. about 10% of total arable land. Most modified cultures are soybean, maize, cotton and rapeseed, mainly with increased tolerance against herbicides and insecticides or higher resistance against insects.Safety and nutritional assessment of food/feed from GMP is urgently necessary. Strict regulations for these assessments exist in many countries. The results of the nutritional studies are summarized in this review. Up to now more than 1 billion ha of GMP have been cultivated all over the world. Nutritionalassessment starts with compositional analysis followed by digestion and feeding studies, fates of transgenic DNA and newly expressed proteins. Up to now most studies were done with GM-crops of the 1st generation (plants with input traits; without substantial changes in composition). No unintended effects in composition or contamination (except lower concentration of mycotoxins) and nutritional assessment of feeds from GM-crops of the 1st generation were registered in about 150 scientific studies with food producing animals. Most of the studies were done with broilers. Transgenic DNA and newly expressed proteins did not show other properties as plant DNA or native plant proteins during feed treatments or in the animals.Other experimental designs for nutritional and safety assessment are recommended for GM-plants with output traits or with substantial changes in composition (plants of the 2nd generation).