Fig. 1

Morphology of nal8 mutant plants showing the narrow leaf width and reduced spikelet number. a Plant architecture of the wild-type TQ and nal8 mutant at the reproductive stage. Scale bar = 15 cm. b Flag leaves of TQ and nal8 mutants. Scale bar = 5 cm. c Mature panicles of TQ and the nal8 mutant. Scale bar = 10 cm. d-i Comparisons of d the average plant height, e average flag leaf width, f average spikelet number, g average yield per plant, h average thousand seed weight, and i average seed setting percentage between TQ and the nal8 mutant. n = 20 plants for all six comparisons. Values in d-i are given as the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 compared with the corresponding TQ wild-type using Student’s t-test