ABSTRACT: Grain quality is an important breeding objective in rice, and the appearance of the grain also affects its commercial value in the market. The aim of this study was to decode the rice grain qualities and appearances, such as gelatinization temperature (GT), amylose content (AC), grain protein content (GPC), pericarp color (PC), length/width ratio (LWR), and grain volume (GV) at phenotypic and genetic levels, as well as the relationships among them. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was used to identify the quantitative trait locus (QTLs) associated with the target traits using mixed linear model (MLM) and Bayesian-information and linkage-disequilibrium iteratively nested keyway (BLINK) methods. In general, AC was negatively correlated with GPC and GV, while it was positively correlated with LWR and PC. GPC was positively correlated with LWR. Using the rice diversity panel 1 (RDP1) population, we identified 11, 6, 2, 7, 11, and 6 QTLs associated with GT, AC, GPC, PC, LWR, and GV, respectively. Five germplasm lines, superior in grain qualities and appearances for basic breeding materials or improvement, were identified. Notably, an F-box gene OsFbox394 was located in the linkage disequilibrium (LD) block of qLWR7-2, which specifically expresses in endosperm and seed tissues, suggesting that this gene may regulate the seed development in rice grain. Besides, different haplotypes of OsHyPRP45 showed significant differences in AC, indicating that this gene may be related to AC in rice grain.
