Some morphological characters of the rice plant were found to be associated with resistance to the African striped borer, Chilo zacconius Bleszynski. A very low, but negative correlation was recorded between percentages of bored stems and plant height. Positive correlations were recorded between percentages of bored stems and stem diameters, stem thickness, length and width of flag leaves and number of tillers per plant. High silica content in rice plants appeared to be a strong factor in resistance to the striped borer. Negative correlations were recorded between percentages of crude silica content of the plants and percentages of bored stems and number of living larvae per plant. Although each of these factors appeared to contribute to borer resistance, none by itself could be said to be the main cause of such resistance, as some varieties did not conform to some of the characters.
