The <i>SEEDLING BIOMASS 1</i> allele from <i>indica</i> rice enhances yield performance under low‐nitrogen environments

Since the ‘first green revolution’ in the 1960s, rice grain yield has risen sharply. However, due to the continual decreasing of cropping areas, further increase in yield potentials is urgently demanding. Long-term excessive fertilization has led to uncontrolled retention of nitrogen fertilizer in the soil and serious pollution of the environment (Peng et al., 2002). Thus, identification of genes determining both high yield and improved nitrogen utilization efficiency for genetic modification is a necessary and promising approach to breed new desirable varieties suitable for current rice production. In this study, we aimed at a primary-mapping QTL controlling rice seedling biomass on chromosome 1 (qSBM1) detected in the recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between 93-11 and PA64S and cloned…