Some characteristics of seeds of 22 native grass species from cerrado region in Brazil, such as sterility, weight of full and empty seeds, possibility of ventilation and number of seeds per weight were evaluated. Species of the genus Aristida, Ctenium, Diectiomis and Schizachyrium showed the highest levels of fertile spikelets (higher than 50%); Andropogon and Hypogynium showed levels of fertile spikelets between 25-49%; whereas in Paspalum, Setaria and Thrazya the occurrence of fertile spikelets varied from 5 to 24% and in Axonopus it was lower than 5%. The average number of full seeds per gram varied from 20 in Paspalum reduncum to almost 3,000 in Aristida gibbosa, which affects the rate of sowing. The seeds classified as "hairy", with which the use of "de-awners" during processing is recommended, belonged to the species: Andropogon bicornis, Andropogon selloanus, Aristida gibbosa, Aristida recurvata, Aristida setifolia, Aristida torta, Ctenium cirrhosum, Diectiomis fastigiata, Hypogynium virgatum, Paspalum pectinatum, Paspalum polyphilum, Paspalum splendens, Paspalum stellatum and Schizachyrium microstachyum. The species classified as non "hairy", with which ventilation can be recommended, were: Axonopus barbigerus, Axonopus canescens, Paspalum gardnerianum, Paspalum pilosum, Paspalum reduncum, Paspalum trichostomum, Setaria geniculata and Thrasya glaziovii.
de-awn; spikelets; sterility of seeds; weight; rate of sowing; ventilation
