GDM creates first edited soy in Brazil

Soy has high nutritional value. Legume seeds contain approximately 38% proteins, 20% lipids (oil), 5% minerals and 34% carbohydrates. Despite their high nutritional value, seeds also contain some factors that can reduce their digestibility by monogastric animals, such as birds, pigs and humans.

Raffinose and stachyose are two types of soluble sugars present in soybeans, known as antinutritional factors. They are not digested by monogastric animals and when ingested from food made with soybean meal they cause gas, intestinal discomfort and reduce the energy in the food and weight gain. As a way to solve this problem, GDM, a leader in Brazil in soybean genetic improvement, developed soybeans with lower raffinose and stachyose contents using a gene editing technique, which was classified by CTNBio (National Technical Biosafety Commission) -- entity linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communication and responsible for implementing the National Biosafety Policy regarding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) -- as GMO-free.

“This new soy was developed to create value for the soy business chain. Its use in poultry and pig farming should increase nutritional quality, enabling producers to spend less on fattening and faster weight gain in animals”, explains Ignácio Bartolomé, president of GDM.

To obtain this soybean, a native soybean gene was altered. The new version of this gene protein resulted in a 75% reduction in raffinose and 50% in stachyose in the seeds.

Excellence in research

GDM is a global highlight in plant genetic improvement. Responsible for the genetics of 1/3 of all global soybean production, it invests heavily in research and development. In the last year alone, around R＄360 million were allocated to research, in Brazil alone. Of the company's more than 1000 employees worldwide, more than 400 are dedicated exclusively to R&D programs.

“Among the various research we conducted, this one, creating a new edition of soy, began three years ago, and was developed in the GDM laboratories in Cambé (PR), in Brazil. The expectation is that this new soybean variety will be available on the market by the end of 2025”, says Bartolomé.

It is worth noting that Brazil became the world's largest producer of soybeans a few years ago and is also a large consumer of soybean meal for meat production. The initial expectation for soybean production in Brazil in 2022 was around 142 million tons, according to Conab (Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento). The IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) estimated that the 2022 harvest would be approximately 139 million tons. With the severe drought in the south of the country, production estimates today are 125,4 million and 131,8 million, respectively.