Flowering time (in rice, termed the heading date), plant height, and grain number are crucial agronomic traits for rice productivity. The heading date is controlled via environmental factors (day length and temperature) and genetic factors (floral genes).TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1)encodes a protein that controls meristem identity and participates in regulating flowering. In this study, a transgenic approach was used to promote the heading date in rice. We isolated and cloned appleMdTFL1for early flowering in rice. Transgenic rice plants with antisenseMdTFL1showed an early heading date compared with wild-type plants. A gene expression analysis suggested that introducingMdTFL1upregulated multiple endogenous floral meristem identity genes, including the (early) heading date gene familyFLOWERING LOCUS Tand MADS-box transcription factors, thereby shortening vegetable development. AntisenseMdTFL1also produced a wide range of phenotypic changes, including a change in overall plant organelles that affected an array of traits, especially grain productivity. The transgenic rice exhibited a semi-draft phenotype, increased leaf inclination angle, restricted flag leaf length, reduced spikelet fertility, and fewer grains per panicle.MdTFL1plays a central role in regulating flowering and in various physiological aspects. These findings emphasize the role ofTFL1in regulating flowering in shortened breeding and expanding its function to produce plants with semi-draft phenotypes.