Agricultural production under climate change, water deficiency, pests and diseases are current major problems. Infestion
of leaf blight disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) on sticky rice plants is frequent and results in
severe yield loss and high production costs. Silicate compounds have been reported to enhance plant resistance against
biotic and abiotic stressors. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of different silicate compounds
on reducing foliage transpiration and suppressing leaf blight disease. Experiments were conducted in a nethouse of Can
Tho university and a farmer’s field in An Giang province. Under nethouse conditions, experiments were carried out on a
completely randomized design with four replications. Treatments consisted of CaSiO3 6 ppm, K2SiO3 6 ppm, Na2SiO3 6
ppm, Silimax 6 ppm and a water control. Sticky rice plants were sprayed by silicate compounds at 20 or 50 days after
growing (DAG), then inoculated with Xoo at 55 DAG. The results showed that at the stage of 20 DAG, foliage transpiration
of Si-treatments were significantly lower than that of the control. In addition, the reduction of leaf blight disease of Sitreatments
were approximately 20-30%. At the older stage of rice plants (50 DAG), the treatments of silicate compound
also helped sticky rice plants reduce transpiration on leaves. Moreover, the average reduction of disease was approximately
38-45%, better than results of 20-DAG treatments. The field experiment was designed as randomized complete
block with similar treatments, three replications. The results indicated that CaSiO3 6 ppm, Silamax and K2SiO3 6 ppm
helped sticky rice plants reduce disease severity at 42.80-55.76%, while Na2SiO3 6 ppm had a low efficacy at only 11.99%.
Extension of results on silicate compounds will help farmers on the management of sticky rice diseases, especially leaf
blight with respect to producing safe food and environment protection.