“…Genetic diversity studies of ryegrasses, using mainly morphological characteristics, were initially focused on natural populations, for the establishment of core collections of valuable gene bank materials and in order to assist understanding of processes of diversification in response to ecological factors (Hayward 1985, Prendes et al 1989, Charmet et al 1993, Fernando et al 1997, Oliveira et al 1997, Balfourier et al 1998. Following the development of molecular genetic marker systems, these technologies were applied to studies of the diversity of both non-domesticated and cultivated ryegrass germplasm (Stammers et al 1995, Huff 1997, Warpeha et al 1998, Rold an-Ruiz et al 2000, Cresswell et al 2001, Guthridge et al 2001, Ghariani et al 2003, Kubik et al 2001, Bolaric et al 2005a,b,c, van Treuren et al 2005, Wang et al 2009) in order to understand genetic relationships.…”