IL-34 (NIL) developed by introgressing chromosomal segment substitution from an accession of Oryza minuta (2n=48, BBCC, Acc. No. 101141) into the O. sativa subsp. japonica cv. Hwaseongbyeo, showed significantly higher number of spikelets per panicle (SSP) than the recurrent parent Hwaseongbyeo. QTL analysis in F2 generation derived from the cross between IL-34 and Hwaseongbyeo revealed that ssp7, a QTL was located in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 7. The frequency distribution of spikelets per panicle followed 3:1 ratio for single locus segregation. The additive effect of the O. minuta allele at the QTL was 23 spikelets per panicle, and 43.6% of the phenotypic variance could be explained by the segregation of marker RM21596. To clarify whether ssp7 could be dissected genetically, we carried out fine-scale mapping with 3,700 F2 plants derived from the cross between IL-34 and Hwaseongbyeo using markers flanking spp7. 186 F2 plants having informative recombination breakpoints within the region flanked by two SSR markers RM500 and RM21615 were identified and used for fine mapping of ssp7. ssp7 was mapped between the SSR markers RM21596 and RM418 which was approximately 441kb in length based on the physical map of the region. Of great interests, the QTL region also had effects on primary branch number (PB), grains per panicle (SP) and grain yield (YD). These results are very useful for transferring or pyramiding ssp7 by molecular marker assistant selection in rice breeding programs.