A japonica variety and its iso-allelic mutant with high tillering ability were used to investigate the differences in grain yield and quality among different tillers. There was a distinct difference in panicle weight among tillers during grain filling for both genotypes, with Xiushui 11 having a greater increase rate in panicle weight, and being earlier in reaching the maximum panicle weight than the mutant. There was a great significant difference between the two genotypes in grain yield and its components, with Xiushui 11 having higher grain yield, more grains per panicle, higher filled grain percentage and grain weight than the mutant for each type of tiller. Moreover, a significant difference was found in grain yield and yield components among different tillers for both genotypes, with grain number per panicle showing the greatest variation over tillers among all yield components. Compared with Xiushui 11, the mutant had higher brown rice rate and greater ratio of length to width of brown rice, and lower chalky rice rate, amylose content, and protein content of rice. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in grain quality among tillers within a plant for both genotypes, with later initiated tillers being lower in chalky rice rate, amylose and protein contents than early initiated ones. The variation of most quality parameters among tillers within a plant was markedly larger for the mutant than for Xiushui 11.
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