After complete heading, the plant height (PH, in cm) was measured from the soil surface to the tip of the tallest panicle (awns

excluded). At maturity, five representative plants in each plot were harvested by cutting the plants at the soil surface. The harvested plants were dried naturally for a month and then measured for panicle number per plant (PN), spikelet number per panicle (SNP), filled-grain number per panicle (FNP), spikelet fertility (SF, in %), thousand-grain weight (GW, in g) and grain yield per plant (GY, in g). In the second selection scheme, seeds of the three bulk BC2F2 populations were sown in the seedling AZD6244 research buy nursery at the CAAS experimental Ganetespib purchase station in Beijing on May 10, 2010. On June 4, 480 25-day old BC2F2 seedlings from each population were transplanted into a 40-row

plot with 3 rows of HHZ (the recipient) inserted in every 10 rows as the checks. The field was managed using standard practices under normal irrigated conditions. At maturity, high yielding (HY) plants were visually identified and harvested and dried naturally for 10 days prior to measuring grain yield. Plants with at least 10% higher yield than HHZ were selected, resulting in 26, 16 and 22 HY plants from the HHZ/IR64, HHZ/AT354 and HHZ/C418 populations. In the third selection scheme, the three BC2F2 populations were subjected to strong selection for seedling ST in the screen-house of CAAS in the 2009 summer. In this screen, seeds of the BC2F2 populations and RP were sterilized with 1% sodium hypochlorite solution for 10 min and

rinsed well with distilled water, then germinated at 35 °C for 48 h. Two germinated seeds were sown in a hole in a thin styrofoam board with 130-holes in 13 rows and a nylon net bottom. The styrofoam board was floated on water Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II up to the two-leaf stage, and then the styrofoam board with seedlings was transferred to a plastic box filled with Yoshida cultural solution [17] containing 140 mmol·L− 1 NaCl in the screen-house of CAAS in Beijing. The solution was changed every 5 days and the daily pH was maintained at 5.5. Each styrofoam board had 240 plants from each population plus one row of HHZ and IR29 (the salt sensitive check) placed in the middle as checks and each population comprised two boxes. In the screen-house, a 29/22 °C day/night temperature and minimum relative humidity of ~ 70% was maintained with humidifiers. Approximately 18 days after the salt treatment when HHZ were killed, 57, 49 and 56 surviving seedlings were selected from the HHZ/IR64, HHZ/AT354 and HHZ/C418 populations, and transferred to the field for seed production. In the 2010 summer, the selected ILs were progeny tested for ST using the same method in the phytotron with two replications for each IL.