Dissection of QTLs for Yield Traits Using Near Isogenic Lines Derived from Residual Heterozygous Lines in Rice

Three residual heterozygous lines (RHLs) carrying heterozygous segments in the intervals RM587-RM225, RM204-RM6119 and RM6119-RM402 on the short arm of rice chromosome 6, respectively, were selected from a rice population derived from an RHL for the interval RM587-RM402. Ten maternal homozygotes, 10 paternal homozygotes and 20 heterozygotes were selected from each of the F2 populations derived from the three RHLs. The three sets of near isogenic lines (NILs) were grown to detect the grain yield per plant, number of panicles per plant, number of filled grains per panicle and 1000-grain weight. With analysis on the phenotypic differences among the three genotype groups in each NIL set and those among overlapping chromosome segment substitution lines, three QTLs for number of filled grains per panicle and two QTLs for grain yield per plant were resolved. They were located in the intervals ranging from 0.66 Mb to 2.49 Mb. The additive effect was higher than the dominance effect at each locus. The allele for increasing the trait value was derived from the paternal parent at qNFGP6-1, and from the maternal alleles at other QTLs. Based on the present study, an approach for constructing new genetic resource to facilitate fine mapping of QTLs in rice was proposed.