diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
index 56058ebc3d0..71befb0b608 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
     private volatile ByteSizeValue indexingBufferSize;
     private volatile int indexConcurrency;
     private volatile boolean compoundOnFlush = true;
+    private volatile boolean checksumOnMerge = true;
 
     private long gcDeletesInMillis;
 
@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
         this.similarityService = similarityService;
         this.codecService = codecService;
         this.compoundOnFlush = indexSettings.getAsBoolean(INDEX_COMPOUND_ON_FLUSH, this.compoundOnFlush);
+        this.checksumOnMerge = indexSettings.getAsBoolean(INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, this.checksumOnMerge);
         this.indexConcurrency = indexSettings.getAsInt(INDEX_INDEX_CONCURRENCY, Math.max(IndexWriterConfig.DEFAULT_MAX_THREAD_STATES, (int) (EsExecutors.boundedNumberOfProcessors(indexSettings) * 0.65)));
         this.versionMap = new LiveVersionMap();
         this.dirtyLocks = new Object[indexConcurrency * 50]; // we multiply it to have enough...
@@ -1397,6 +1399,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
              * in combination with the default writelock timeout*/
             config.setWriteLockTimeout(5000);
             config.setUseCompoundFile(this.compoundOnFlush);
+            config.setCheckIntegrityAtMerge(checksumOnMerge);
             // Warm-up hook for newly-merged segments. Warming up segments here is better since it will be performed at the end
             // of the merge operation and won't slow down _refresh
             config.setMergedSegmentWarmer(new IndexReaderWarmer() {
@@ -1431,6 +1434,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
 
     public static final String INDEX_INDEX_CONCURRENCY = "index.index_concurrency";
     public static final String INDEX_COMPOUND_ON_FLUSH = "index.compound_on_flush";
+    public static final String INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE = "index.checksum_on_merge";
     public static final String INDEX_GC_DELETES = "index.gc_deletes";
     public static final String INDEX_FAIL_ON_MERGE_FAILURE = "index.fail_on_merge_failure";
     public static final String INDEX_FAIL_ON_CORRUPTION = "index.fail_on_corruption";
@@ -1452,6 +1456,13 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
                 InternalEngine.this.compoundOnFlush = compoundOnFlush;
                 indexWriter.getConfig().setUseCompoundFile(compoundOnFlush);
             }
+            
+            final boolean checksumOnMerge = settings.getAsBoolean(INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, InternalEngine.this.checksumOnMerge);
+            if (checksumOnMerge != InternalEngine.this.checksumOnMerge) {
+                logger.info("updating {} from [{}] to [{}]", InternalEngine.INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, InternalEngine.this.checksumOnMerge, checksumOnMerge);
+                InternalEngine.this.checksumOnMerge = checksumOnMerge;
+                indexWriter.getConfig().setCheckIntegrityAtMerge(checksumOnMerge);
+            }
 
             InternalEngine.this.failEngineOnCorruption = settings.getAsBoolean(INDEX_FAIL_ON_CORRUPTION, InternalEngine.this.failEngineOnCorruption);
             int indexConcurrency = settings.getAsInt(INDEX_INDEX_CONCURRENCY, InternalEngine.this.indexConcurrency);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/settings/IndexDynamicSettingsModule.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/settings/IndexDynamicSettingsModule.java
index 99c7aa1b82c..d06aa465352 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/settings/IndexDynamicSettingsModule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/settings/IndexDynamicSettingsModule.java
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ public class IndexDynamicSettingsModule extends AbstractModule {
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(InternalEngine.INDEX_CODEC);
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(InternalEngine.INDEX_FAIL_ON_MERGE_FAILURE);
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(InternalEngine.INDEX_FAIL_ON_CORRUPTION);
+        indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(InternalEngine.INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, Validator.BOOLEAN);
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(ShardSlowLogIndexingService.INDEX_INDEXING_SLOWLOG_THRESHOLD_INDEX_WARN, Validator.TIME);
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(ShardSlowLogIndexingService.INDEX_INDEXING_SLOWLOG_THRESHOLD_INDEX_INFO, Validator.TIME);
         indexDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(ShardSlowLogIndexingService.INDEX_INDEXING_SLOWLOG_THRESHOLD_INDEX_DEBUG, Validator.TIME);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineSettingsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineSettingsTest.java
index 0e3c1cf5554..f055416441d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineSettingsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineSettingsTest.java
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ public class InternalEngineSettingsTest extends ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest {
         assertThat(engine(service).currentIndexWriterConfig().getUseCompoundFile(), is(false));
         client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("foo").setSettings(ImmutableSettings.builder().put(InternalEngine.INDEX_COMPOUND_ON_FLUSH, true).build()).get();
         assertThat(engine(service).currentIndexWriterConfig().getUseCompoundFile(), is(true));
+        
+        // INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE
+        assertThat(engine(service).currentIndexWriterConfig().getCheckIntegrityAtMerge(), is(true));
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("foo").setSettings(ImmutableSettings.builder().put(InternalEngine.INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, false).build()).get();
+        assertThat(engine(service).currentIndexWriterConfig().getCheckIntegrityAtMerge(), is(false));
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("foo").setSettings(ImmutableSettings.builder().put(InternalEngine.INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, true).build()).get();
+        assertThat(engine(service).currentIndexWriterConfig().getCheckIntegrityAtMerge(), is(true));
     }
 
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineTests.java
index 2017e203fd1..c6ca9acb986 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         super.setUp();
         defaultSettings = ImmutableSettings.builder()
                 .put(InternalEngine.INDEX_COMPOUND_ON_FLUSH, getRandom().nextBoolean())
+                .put(InternalEngine.INDEX_CHECKSUM_ON_MERGE, getRandom().nextBoolean())
                 .put(InternalEngine.INDEX_GC_DELETES, "1h") // make sure this doesn't kick in on us
                 .put(InternalEngine.INDEX_FAIL_ON_CORRUPTION, randomBoolean())
                 .build(); // TODO randomize more settings