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This study was carried out to determine the chemical composition, silage quality and ensilability of ten cocksfoot cultivars using biological and chemical silage additives. The plant material was harvested from the first and second cut, cultivated at the Research Station of Fodder Crops in Vatín, Czech Republic. Wilted forage was chopped and ensiled in mini-silos with 3 replicates per treatment. The treatments were: 1) without additives, used as a control; 2) with bacterial inoculants; and 3) with chemical preservatives. The results indicated that the year factor (2012-2013) influenced significantly the chemical composition of the silage in both cuts. The use of biological inoculants reduced the content of crude fibre and acid detergent fibre; but it did not influence the content of neutral detergent fibre, in comparison with the control silage in both cuts. Furthermore, the application of biological inoculants reduced the concentration of lactic acid (LA) and acetic acid (AA) in contrast to the control silage in the first cut. Moreover, in the second cut the same values tended to be the opposite. Interestingly, ‘Amera’ was the unique variety that presented a high concentration of butyric acid (0.2%) in comparison with other varieties in the first cut. In conclusion, the biological inoculants had a favourable effect on silage fermentation. Notably, only ‘Greenly’ and ‘Starly’ varieties from the first cut; and ‘Greenly’, ‘Sw-Luxor’, and ‘Otello’ varieties from the second cut were appropriate for ensiling because their pH-values; LA and AA concentrations were ideal according to the parameters of the fermentation process.

We have bred low glucosinolate (GSL) winter oilseed rape lines carrying the fertility restorer for the CMS Ogu-INRA system. The original restorer line BO20 contained 31μmol/g GSL in seeds, but by crossing this line with various low GSL CMS lines, followed by repeated selection of fertile segregants, we were able to obtain fertile lines with a mean GSL content in seeds of 11.8 μmol/g. This result confirmed that the gene(s) controlling the GSL content are not closely linked to the fertility restorer gene. The results confirm, that the SCAR marker SG34 is closely associated with the fertility restoring allele, and facilitates so the selection of fertile segregants; however, the marker is unable to distinguish between the homozygous RfRf and the heterozygous Rfrf genotypes.

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