ADIVERSE collection of Egyptian and exotic rice genotypes, were evaluated for agronomic traits.  Subsequently in order to assess the allele diversity of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) attributed to agronomic traits. The genotypes were characterized using a set of 23 microsatellite markers. In total, 24 significant marker­­-trait associations QTLswere identified; 2 for heading date, 10 for plant height, 2 for panicle length, 4 for number of panicles per plant, 1 for number of filled grains per panicle, 1 for 1000-grain weight and 4 for grain yield per plant. More of theseQTLswere located on chromosomes 2 and 7. Association analysis of SSR markers showed 4 markersRM6, RM118, RM151 and RM307had a significant association with most of the agronomic traits. Detection of QTLs for agronomic traits at different chromosomes indicated that these characters are controlled by multiple loci. Higher R² values were obtained for most traits and ranged from -0.366* to 0.695** for grain yield per plant and plant height, respectively. Genetic analysis identified the best rice microsatellite markers attributed to agronomic traits and they can be informative for improvement of agronomic traits through marker-assisted selection. Breeders can use this information to design crosses that assemble new potentially durable combinations of genes/QTLsto improve rice genotypes.