Abstract：The objective of this study was to identify and exploit quantitative loci (QTLs) associated with grain quality from common wild rice. Using single-point analysis and chromosomal segment substitution method, a total of 16 QTLs for 5 traits related to grain quality, including percent of brown rice, percent of head rice, percent of chalky grain, white core area and length : width ratio, were detected using an introgression line population of Chinese common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) from Yuanjiang, Yunnan province, in the background of Indica cultivar (O.sativa L.) Teqing. For 18 of the QTLs detected in this study, the O.rufipogon-derived allele contributed a desirable effect in a Teqing background. QTLs influencing 3 traits of grain quality were found near RM289 on chromosome 5 and these alleles from common wild rice increased grain length : width ratio, decreased percent of chalky grain. One QTL for percent of chalky grain and white core area, explaining 14% and 9% of the phenotypic variance respectively, was detected near RM152 on chromosome 8 and the O.rufipogon-derived allele decreased percent of chalky grain and white core area. The results presented here may be useful in improvement of rice grain quality by marker-assisted selection. It was also suggested that there is enormous potential of improving grain quality of cultivated rice utilizing the favorable genes of wild species in rice breeding program.
