Early vigour is an important objective in rice breeding. A previous study reported strong positive effects of development rate (DR, 1/phyllochron) on early growth vigour in two rice panels. This study provided a model-based analysis of DR effects on rice early vigour and underlying source-sink processes during exponential growth, using Ecomeristem model. Relevant model parameters were fitted to panel observations, and their effect on early vigour was quantified. A sensitivity analysis was performed to quantify the impact of model parameters on simulation outputs. The simulated behaviour of a population of virtual genotypes defined by the combination of model parameter values was compared with that of diversity panel. Finally, a simulation experiment was conducted to analyse source-sink adjustments constituting early vigour across a range of DR. Parameters governing structural development, particularly DR, had greater impact on vigour than parameters for resource acquisition. High DR was associated with rapid dry weight accumulation and low transitory carbohydrate reserves in both real and virtual populations. Genotypic DR is thus a major driver of early vigour in rice under stress-free conditions. To evaluate traits contributing to vigour, the capacity of crop models to simulate interactions between structural development and resource acquisition must be improved.