Abstract: | Current rice production is usually guaranteed by applying large amount of chemical nitrogen fertilizers to paddy soils. The improvement of nitrogen use efficiency is of great importance not only in rice production itself but in environmental protection as well. In this study we performed a molecular marker-based genetic analysis of nitrogen use efficiency for biomass production (NUEp) and several other related traits in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, derived from a cross of the parents of Shanyou 63, the most widely cultivated indica hybrid in China. A total of 12 QTLs were detected using interval mapping with a LOD threshold of 2.0, among which one QTL controlling NUEp was located at the marker interval of Waxy-C1496 on chromosome 6, and the rest 11 QTLs associated nitrogen concentration and accumulation in rice plant were positioned on chromosomes 1, 2, 4 and 6, respectively. Correlation between NUEp and other traits was analyzed and the implications of the results with respect to the improvement of the hybrid rice were discussed. |