II-32A, an elite male-sterile line of rice (Oryza sativa L.), has been widely used for the production of hybrid rice seed in China. Heading date in most combinations using II-32A shows transgressive inheritance or similarity to the latter parent, but the genotype of II-32A with respect to major genes for heading time is unknown. This limits the further exploitation of this sterile line in breeding and hybrid seed production. Using a number of major gene heading date isogenic lines and heading date QTL near-isogenic lines, we genetically analyzed II-32B under both long-and short-day conditions. We show that II-32B carries two photoperiod-sensitive genes, E1 and E3, a recessive late-heading gene, ef-1, and a photoperiod-sensitive allele, Se-1 u . In addition we identified in II-32B a recessive inhibitor for E1 or Se-1 n and other modified photoperiod-sensitive genes. The heading-date constitution of II-32A was determined to be E 1 e 2 E 3 Se-1 u ef-1i-Se-1. CM, Luo LG, Wan JM (2006). Genotyping the heading date of malesterile rice line II-32A. J Integrat Plant Biol 48(4), 440−446. Flowering time in crops is critical for adaptation to different cultivation areas and cropping seasons. Photoperiod sensitivity (PS) and basic vegetative growth are the major determinants of heading date in rice. Several major genes controlling these traits have been identified in rice, including Ef-1 (early flowering; and Se-1 have proven to be the most common alleles controlling heading time (Yamagata et al. 1986, Ichitani et al. 1997. The stimulative effect of E 1 on PS is strong compared with that exerted by either E 2 or E 3 , and the effect of E 1 is considerably enhanced by the presence of E 3 , and even more so by the presence of both E 2 and E 3 , leading to significant delay in heading time (Yamagata et al. 1986;Cai et al. 1987;Ichitani et al. 1997Ichitani et al. , 1998Luo et al. 2001). The recessive inhibitor of PS, i-Se-1, confers early heading even under long-day conditions. Due to the ubiquitous presence of iSe-1, most early indica rice cultivars exhibit no PS, even if they carry PS genes (Ohshima et al. 1993;Ohshima and Kikuchi 1994;.A male sterile line, II-32A, derived from Indonesian paddy rice by the Hybrid Rice Research Center of Hunan Province, has desirable flowering behavior, is highly receptive to incoming pollen, and has excellent hybrid combining ability (Wang 2002). Hybrid combinations with II-32A are widely used in more than 10 provinces in China, and occupy a cropping area of 360 million hm 2 . However, the genetic basis of the moderate growth duration and the broad adaptation of combinations with II-32A are unclear. In the present study, the heading date genotype of II-32B was investigated, using as testers a range of genetic stocks varying in their content of major Hd genes or heading date QTL. The genetic basis of the wide adaptation of three-line hybrid rice involving II-32A as one parent suggests why II-32A has been so successful, Genotyping of the Heading Date of II-32A 441 and serves as a basis for th...