UPDATE 1-German court rejects Monsanto plea to end GMO maize ban

(Adds Monsanto statement paragraphs 8-9)

HAMBURG, May 5 (Reuters) - A German court on Tuesday rejected an urgent application from U.S. biotech company Monsanto to end Germany's ban on cultivation of Monsanto maize containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, had requested an urgent decision to lift the ban imposed on April 14 by German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner stopping cultivation and commercial sale of Monanto's MON 810 GMO maize which prevented it being sown for this year's harvest.

The court in Braunschweig in north Germany rejected an application for an emergency ruling to overturn Aigner's decision so as to allow sowings for the 2009 crop.

Monsanto now has the option of taking normal legal action against the decision, the court said. But there was no indication of when a decision on such action could be made.

A statement from the court said Germany's law on GMOs laid down that a ban on a new plant variety did not need to be justified by proven scientific research which showed without doubt the crop to be dangerous.

It was enough when research showed there were indications that the crop could be dangerous, the court said.

The court ruled that German authorities had not made an arbitrary or biased decision in imposing the ban.

Monsanto would consider further legal action against the ban, said the CEO of its German unit Ursula Luettmer-Ouazane. The court had damaged the freedom of farmers to use new technology, she said in a statement.