LSU AgCenter scientists have developed pretreatment methods to protect rice against major pathogens, such as Burkholderia glumae, and consequently prevent the development of serious rice diseases, such as panicle blight. Plants would not normally be able to tolerate the infection by certain types of pathogens. However, these pretreatments increase a plant’s pathogen resistance and subsequently allow it to survive the infection process. This will limit losses due to disease and improve yield.