Feed nutrition evaluation Chapter

There has been a permanent selection for thousands of years to create new varieties of plants to supply better feeds for animal nutrition. Selection purposes may result in an increased dry matter yield per hectare, an altered dry matter composition, an improved organic matter digestibility and consequently an increased energy value, a reduction of the presence of anti-nutritional factors or a better resistance against diseases or unfavourable environmental conditions. During the last decades, crops for livestock feeding were increasingly developed based on genetic engineering, where foreign DNA fragments with specific characteristics were inserted into the genome. The safety of these genetically modified organisms should be assessed for both livestock feeding and human nutrition. Additionally, it has to be evaluated if the DNA of inserted or modified genes (such as antibiotic resistance genes), or their products, can cause detrimental effects, if transferred into animals, or if the proteins can accumulate in the end products (milk, meat, eggs...) of animals which are fed with these novel feeds. This chapter describes in first instance the data and information needed for the compositional analysis of the feed derived from the genetically modified crop . Next, the possible implications of genetically modified crops in the animal diet as outlined in this chapter should be considered to determine which studies are necessary for the further feed safety assessment.