Objective:

To ratify the importance of the application of molecular tools in the pasture breeding programs.

Materials and Methods:

Fifty-nine papers were consulted and reviewed, which approach the methods based on molecular (genetic markers, CRISPR technology and molecular cytogenetics), available in databases (Google Scholar, Dialnet, Redalyc, SciELO, REDIB, DOAJ and Latindex), in order to obtain information about their application in pasture breeding.

Results :

Information was compiled about the main molecular markers (microsatellites, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, single-nucleotide polymorphism, amplified fragment length polymorphism), utilized to analyze the genetic diversity in pastures. Which ones are more effective and versatile was researched. It was noted that the phenomenon of apomixis can be utilized to maintain the hybrid vigor in pasture lines and that molecular marks contributed to identify apomictic plants at early ages. It was validated that the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology can be applied in pasture species to improve agronomic attributes.

Conclusions:

Molecular markers, especially SNPs, are ideal for genetic diversity studies in pastures and for the identification of apomictic plants at early ages. The CRISPR technology of genomic edition constitutes a versatile tool applicable in pastures.

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