Abstract: The studies of infection characteristics of Erwinia chrysanthemi pv. zeae, the causal of rice bacterial foot rot, were conducted by the rifampin-resistant strain Ech7. The results showed that the pathogen could infect rice seeds during the seed germination, which made seeds and seedlings rotten. E. chrysanthemi pv. zeae could highly inhibit rice roots to grow. In addtion, the pathogen could also infect rice plant in different stages of rice. It was also found that the pathogen infected in the early stage of rice when the pathogen could cause greater damage in rice yield, and that E. chrysanthemi pv. zeae had the latent infection.