ABSTRACT
Tropical grasses for pastures represent the single most valuable resource in animal production worldwide. Besides providing means of transforming roughage grown most commonly on soils of low fertility levels into high-quality protein for human consumption, they convey an ecological and sustainable approach for doing so. Native and cultivated pastures cover wide extensions of land in the tropics, and these natural environments encompass a wide array of genera and species of forage plants. Cultivated pastures in the tropics, however, are dangerously composed of a few varieties and-in the case of grasses, such as the ones from the genus Brachiaria (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae)—of apomictic ecotypes that, for all practical purposes, are “clones” through seeds, therefore creating monocrops. This lack of biodiversity exposes the ecosystems by exerting tremendous selection pressure on pests and/or diseases and justies the urgency in developing and releasing new cultivars by breeding and/or selection.
