Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
be dei ned before studies are initiated. A
pre-dei ned relevant biological ef ect should
be used to design studies with sui cient
statistical power to be able to detect such
ef ects if they truly occur. Such conclusions
may be very helpful, but their realization
depends on the experimental equipment of
research institutions, especially in cases of
large animals (ruminants, pigs). Never-
theless, there is a certain subjective com-
ponent in this recommendation, which will
require some discussion in the future.
During the past few years, many ei ciency
studies and some reviews on the nutrition
and safety assessment of feed from GM
plants (mostly i rst-generation plants) have
Table 5.4.
Some recommendations from the 'Best practices for the conduct of animal studies (effi ciency
studies) to evaluate crops genetically modifi ed for input traits' (fi rst-generation GM plants) (adapted from
ILSI, 2003).
Number of
animals
(coeffi cient of
variation 4-5%)
Animals
(species/
categories)
Duration of
experiments
Composition of
diets
a
Measurements/end
points
Poultry for meat
production
10-12 pens per
treatment, with
9-12 birds per
pen
5 weeks or more
Balanced diets
Feed intake, gain,
feed conversion,
metabolic
parameters, body
composition
Poultry for egg
production
12-15 replications
per treatment,
with 3-5 layers
per pen
18-40 weeks of
age, at least
three 28-day
phases
Balanced diets
Feed intake, egg
production, feed
conversion, egg
quality, metabolic
parameters
Swine
6-9 replications
per treatment,
with 4 or more
pigs per
replication
Piglets
(7-12 kg)
4-6 weeks
Growers
(15-25 kg)
6-8 weeks
Balanced diets
Feed intake, gain,
feed conversion,
metabolic
parameters,
carcass quality
Growing and
fi nishing
ruminants
6-10 replications
per treatment,
with 6 or more
cattle per
replication
90-120 days
Balanced diets
Feed intake, gain,
feed conversion,
carcass data,
metabolic
parameters
Lactating dairy
cows
12-16 cows per
treatment
Latin square
28-day periods
Randomized block
design
Balanced diets
Feed intake, milk
performance and
composition, body
weight, metabolic
parameters, body
condition score
(BCS), cell counts
in milk, animal
health
Note:
a
Effi ciency studies to evaluate feed from GM plants with output traits (second-generation GM plants) should be
done under consideration of recommendations by the EFSA (2008, 2011a) and ILSI (2007); feed from GM plants should
be included in high portions in the diets and compared with near-isogenic counterparts (commercial varieties) to show
the biological range.
