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Diversity of 60 conventional japonica rice accessions with good eating quality at home and abroad was analyzed using SSR molecular markers, agronomic traits and taste characteristics. A total of 290 alleles were detected in the 60 accessions at 72 SSR loci with the high similarity coefficients varying between 0.600 and 0.924. The loci on chromosome 5 showed the greatest value in average allele number. Additionally, most of the SSR loci could detect 3 to 4 alleles. An UPGMA dendrogram based on the cluster analysis of the genetic similarity coefficients showed that the grouping trend of part of the rice accessions was geographic-related and most of the rice accessions in Jiangsu Province, China were clustered together. Furthermore, many domestic accessions from south and north origins in China were close to the foreign japonica rice varieties, as proved by their pedigree origin from the foreign high-quality sources. For taste characteristics, part of the accessions with excellent taste were clearly clustered into one category though they came from different geographical regions, which indicates that taste characteristics of some varieties were mainly genetically determined. In addition, the agronomic traits of japonica rice with good taste might be closely related with their geographical origins, but the relationship between superior taste characteristics and agronomic traits should be further clarified.

The translucent endosperm trait in a japonica rice variety ‘Kantou 194’ is controlled by a Wx-mq gene which is allelic to Wx locus by genetic analysis and allelic test. The amylose content analysis showed that an intermediate amylose content between those of glutinous and non-glutinous rice existed in endosperm of homozygous Wx-mq genotype. The slight changes of amylose content in different varieties and F1 grains with an identical Wx-mq genotype might be influenced by dissimilar genetic background. To identify the Wx-mq genotype simply and rapidly, a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker was designed. The result from the molecular detection indicated that it could be used for marker-assisted selection for low amylose content varieties in rice breeding.

The rice starch viscosity characteristics, which can be indicated by Rapid Visco Analyzer profile (RVA profile), have been proved useful for the evaluation of cooking and eating quality in rice breeding program. To study the inheritance of the RVA profile, an F2 population of Wuyujing 3/Aichi 106 was used. The results indicated that the peak viscosity (PKV) was a typical quantitative character, and the hot paste viscosity (HPV), cool paste viscosity (CPV), setback viscosity (SBV), breakdown viscosity (BDV), and consistence viscosity (CSV) might be controlled by one major gene and several minor genes. To elucidate the genetic basis of the paste viscosity characteristics, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from Nikken 2/Milyang 23 and its genetic linkage map were used to map the QTLs controlling RVA profiles in 2005 and 2006. A total of 34 QTLs distributed on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were detected, including 19 and 15 QTLs in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Eight QTLs were both detected in the two years, qHPV6, qCPV6, qCSV6, qSBV6, and qBDV6 were located on chromosome 6, while qHPV2, qCSV2, and qCPV2 were on chromosome 2.