.1. Nutritional composition analysis
3.1.1. Proximate analysis
When assessing the practical and nutritional aspects of a genetically modified organism, proximate analysis is one of the most important tools and takes into account factors such as moisture, ash, crude fat, carbohydrate, and protein content (Table 1). Grain moisture content in particular is an important indicator of shelf life, and grain moisture content above a certain threshold level can lead to deterioration of the nutritional quality of rice seeds. In this study the moisture content of both transgenic and non-transgenic rice varieties was maintained around 14%, while the ash content of both rice seeds was also comparable and within an appropriate reference range as determined by the OECD.