In this study, an RIL （recombinant inbred line） population containing 240 lines was developed by single seed descent method （SSD） based on a parent com- bination of small-grain indica cultivar Kasalath and large-grain japanica cultivar TD70 with significant differences in plant type traits, to construct the molecular genetic linkage map. Totally 838 SSR （Simple Sequence Repeat） markers were used for polymorphism screening between parents, 302 SSR markers with polymorphism were detected, with a frequency of 36.04%; 141 SSR markers with clear amplified bands and uniform distribution in the genome were finally used for genotype analysis of the RIL population. According to the experimental results, the frequency of male and female genotype in this RIL population was respectively 53% and 47%, suggesting good balance in population structure. A molecular genetic linkage map of rice was constructed by 141 markers based on a RIL population of 240 lines, with a total genetic distance of about 1 832.47 cM covering all 12 chromosomes, an average genetic distance between markers of 12.70 cM and a range of genetic distance be- tween markers of 0.43-36.11 cM, which is consistent with basic requirements of quantitative trait locus （QTL） mapping. Except for few markers on chromosomes 1 and 8, the order and location of markers is similar to the published sequences of Nipponbare. QTL analysis for the tiller angle was conducted with this RIL population of 240 lines, and results showed that three QTLs controlling tiller angle were detected on chromosome 8, 9 and 11, which were named qTA8, qTA9 and qTA11, with a contribution rate of 4.10%, 26.08% and 4.35%, respectively. To be specific, qTA9 contained Tiller Angle Controlling （TAC1） gene. The construction of this molecular genetic linkage map laid the foundation for genetic analysis and QTL mapping of various traits in the progeny of indica and japonica.
