Comparison of broiler performance when fed diets containing event DP-356O43-5 (Optimum GAT), nontransgenic near-isoline control, or commercial reference soybean meal, hulls, and oil

Event DP-356O43-5 (356043; Optimum GAT) is a genetically modified soybean (Glycine max) that was produced by insertion of the gat4601 and gm-hra genes. The expression products of these genes are the glyphosate acetyltransferase 4601 and acetolactate synthase proteins, respectively. Expression of the glyphosate acetyltransferase 4601 protein confers tolerance in planta to the herbicidal active ingredient glyphosate, whereas expression of the acetolactate synthase protein confers tolerance to sulfonylurea and imidazolinone herbicides. The objective of this study was to compare the nutritional equivalence of 356043 soybeans to nontransgenic soybeans in a 42-d feeding trial in broiler chickens. Diets were prepared using processed fractions (meal, hulls, and oil) from untreated 356043 soybean plants or from soybean plants treated with a mixture of glyphosate, chlorimuron, and thifensulfuron (356043 + Gly/SU). For comparison, additional diets were produced with soybean fractions obtained from a nontransgenic near-isoline (control; 091) and nontransgenic commercial Pioneer varieties (93B86,93B15, and 93M40). Diets were fed to Ross x Cobb broilers (n = 120/group, 50% male and 50% female) in 3 phases. Starter diets contained 30% soybean meal, grower diets 26% soybean meal, and finisher diets 21.5% soybean meal. Soybean hulls and oil were added at 1.0 and 0.5%, respectively, across all diets in each phase. No statistically significant differences were observed in mortality, growth performance variables, or carcass and organ yields between broilers consuming diets produced with 356043 or 356043 + Gly/SU soybean fractions and those consuming diets produced with near-isoline control soybean fractions. Additionally, all performance and carcass variables from control, 356043, and 356043 + Gly/SU soybean treatment groups fell within the tolerance intervals constructed using data from reference soybean groups. Based on the results from this study, it was concluded that 356043 soybean was nutritionally equivalent to nontransgenic control soybean with a comparable genetic background.