Two experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions to study the maturation stage effect on storage ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) seeds. In the first experiment, seeds were harvested six times, weekly, beginning at total emergence of the spikes in the field; in the second, seeds were harvested in two dates (10.25.93 and 11.04.93) and the spikelets with similar color were grouped. The seeds were placed inside paper bags and stored in natural laboratory conditions. The germination and the vigor (first germination count ) were evaluated yearly, during four and five years, respectively to first and second experiments. The seeds harvested at 35 (physiological maturity) and 42 days after 100% of spikes emergences stored better than others. The spikelets with light yellow, yellow greenish and green yellowish color, presenting seeds at farinaceous/semihard, doughy/farinaceous and milk/doughy stages, showed, in this sequence, seeds with better conservation capacity. After three years of storage, these seeds maintained germination percentage over 80%. The immature and the lighter seeds had stored by shorter period.