A major study has found no evidence that UK produced genetically modified crops harm the environment.

The Bright project looked at varieties of sugar beet and winter oil-seed rape which had been modified to make them tolerant to specific herbicides.

The crops were then compared with non-GM cereals grown in rotation and the study concluded that GM varieties, used in this manner, did not deplete the soil of weed seeds needed by birds and other wildlife, the BBC reported.

The Bright programme was designed to mimic normal agricultural practice and measure how GM crops would perform when used in a typical crop rotation pattern over four years.

Not only did the project find no evidence of seed depletion, it also pointed to other potential benefits for farmers of growing the GM crops.

A spokesman said: “There appear to be some management advantages in the flexibility of the herbicide usage; there could well be cost benefit advantages, depending on the price of the herbicides and seeds when the crops are commercialised.

“There do appear to be a number of reasons why farmers might be quite interested in growing these crops.”

However, there still remains little prospect of GM crops being introduced into the UK in the short-term. Earlier this year, another major trial, the Farm Scale Evaluations, found two GM varieties, a sugar beet and a spring rape, were more damaging to bio-diversity than conventional crops, with fewer insect groups being recorded among the plants.

Following the result, environment secretary Margaret Beckett said companies wishing to bring in GM crops to the UK would have to go through a long approval process.