diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index dab35cccb97..9f51497403f 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -434,6 +434,8 @@ New Features
 * SOLR-3036: Ability to specify overwrite=false on the URL for XML updates.
   (Sami Siren via yonik)
 
+* SOLR-2603: Add the encoding function for alternate fields in highlighting.
+  (Massimo Schiavon, koji)
 
 Optimizations
 ----------------------
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/highlight/DefaultSolrHighlighter.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/highlight/DefaultSolrHighlighter.java
index 1bb727eedbb..403c4aa0084 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/highlight/DefaultSolrHighlighter.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/highlight/DefaultSolrHighlighter.java
@@ -577,21 +577,23 @@ public class DefaultSolrHighlighter extends SolrHighlighter implements PluginInf
       String[] altTexts = listFields.toArray(new String[listFields.size()]);
 
       if (altTexts != null && altTexts.length > 0){
+        Encoder encoder = getEncoder(fieldName, params);
         int alternateFieldLen = params.getFieldInt(fieldName, HighlightParams.ALTERNATE_FIELD_LENGTH,0);
-        if( alternateFieldLen <= 0 ){
-          docSummaries.add(fieldName, altTexts);
-        }
-        else{
-          List<String> altList = new ArrayList<String>();
-          int len = 0;
-          for( String altText: altTexts ){
+        List<String> altList = new ArrayList<String>();
+        int len = 0;
+        for( String altText: altTexts ){
+          if( alternateFieldLen <= 0 ){
+            altList.add(encoder.encodeText(altText));
+          }
+          else{
             altList.add( len + altText.length() > alternateFieldLen ?
-                new String(altText.substring( 0, alternateFieldLen - len )) : altText );
+                encoder.encodeText(new String(altText.substring( 0, alternateFieldLen - len ))) :
+                encoder.encodeText(altText) );
             len += altText.length();
             if( len >= alternateFieldLen ) break;
           }
-          docSummaries.add(fieldName, altList);
         }
+        docSummaries.add(fieldName, altList);
       }
     }
   }