The study aims to solve the problems of late transplanting rice with differ- ent seedling ages at the lower reaches of Yangtze River. We selected six varieties of different thermal and photo-response characteristics as the test material to study the effect of different seedling ages on growth and yield of rice. The results showed that growing period of thermal-response rice was delayed by long seedling age, but less affected by the impact of photo-response rice; the yield of later thermal-re- sponse varieties with 25 days and 30 days seedling ages was significantly reduced. In contrast, the yield of early thermal-response varieties and later photo-response varieties were significantly reduced with 30 days seedling age. The optimal trans- planting seedling age was 15 days of thermal-response rice, while photo-response rice was 20 days. The thermal-response rice should be selected as early maturing varieties, while the photo-response rice could be selected as late maturing varieties for high yield.
