Increased phenolic content and accumulationof pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, viz. chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase and thaumatin-like protein (TLP;PR 5) were observed in rice plants pretreated with ASM followed by inoculation with Xoo. Immunoblotanalysis using rice TLP and tobacco chitinase antiserum revealed rapid induction and over-expressionof 25 and 35 kDa TLP and chitinase, respectively, in rice in response to pretreatment with ASMfollowed by Xoo inoculation. Based on these experiments, it is evident that induction of disease resistancein rice was accelerated following treatment with ASM.