Abstract
Lolium multiflorum Lam. is a forage known as annual ryegrass and stands out for the nutritional quality and adaptation to grazing and excessive water. Since it is a winter grass of widest distribution in temperate regions worldwide and has a great variability between and within populations, cytogenetic studies are important to support breeding programs and for the knowledge of genetic diversity. In this way, the present study evaluated the meiotic behavior of 17 genotypes of ryegrass collected in the Southern and Southeastern Brazil. For analysis we used the conventional protocol for meiotic studies by squash technique and staining with 1% propionic carmine. In general, plants presented regular meiosis with formation of seven ring-shaped bivalents and terminalized chiasmata. Six accessions showed differences in the number of chromosomes associated with the nucleolus, which could be one, two or three, indicating the occurrence of different transcriptional activity. Four accessions presented irregularities such as the occurrence of nontarget oriented, the presence of bridges and micronuclei.
