Se aplicaron diferentes metodos de escarificacion a las semillas de las siguientes especies forrajeras tropicales: guinea (Panicum maximum Jacq. c.v. Tanzania), kudzu tropical, (Pueraria phaseoloides Roxb. Benth.) , lotus (Lotus corniculatus L.) , matarraton ( Gliricidia sepium Jacq.) Steud.) , angleton (Dichanthium aristatum Poiret. C. E. Hubb.), pasto amargo ( Brachiaria decumbens Stapf.) y carimagua ( Andropogon gayanus Kunth.), con el objetivo de saber cual era el mejor metodo para analizar su viabilidad . Las especies de semillas forrajeras tropicales se sometieron a escarificacion mecanica, escarificacion quimica y escarificacion fisica; para verificar la viabilidad del embrion, se utilizo la tincion con acido 2, 3, 5 trifeniltetrazolio y la prueba de germinacion. Las pruebas se realizaron en el vivero y en el Laboratorio de Sanidad Agropecuaria del convenio Secretaria de Agricultura - Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias de la Universidad de Antioquia. El diseno experimental utilizado para evaluar la viabilidad de las semillas al nivel de significancia de (P 0,05), mostrando buenos resultados con ambos metodos. Palabras clave: Escarificacion, germinacion, imbibicion, latencia, semilla pura, tetrazolio. ABSTRACT Different methods of scarification were applied to seeds of the following tropical forages, Guinea grass ( Pannicun maximum Jaq.) c.v. Tanzania, tropical kudzu ( Pueraria phaseoloides Roxb. Benth.), birdsfoot trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus L.), mother of cocoa ( Gliricidia sepium Jacq. Steud.), bluestem ( Dichantium aristatum Poiret. C. E. Hubb.), bitter grass ( Brachiaria decumbens Stapf.), and gamba grass ( Andropogon gayanus Kunth.), for the purpose of identifying the best method to assess the feasibility. The species of tropical forage seeds were subjected to mechanical, chemical and physical scarification, and in order to verify the viability of the embryo, staining with acid 2, 3, 5 triphenyltetrazolium and the germination test were used. The tests were conducted in the plant nursery and in the Agricultural Health Laboratory, under the agreement between the Agriculture Secretary and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Antioquia. The experimental design that we used to evaluate the viability of the seeds to a level of significance of (P 0,05), but both methods showed good results. Key words : germination, imbibition, latency, pure seed, scarification, tetrazolio