Magnesium and its alloys have the potential to serve as lightweight, degradable, biocompatible and bioactive orthopedic implants for load-bearing applications. However, severe local corrosion attack and high corrosion rate have prevented their further clinical use. Micro-arc oxidation (MAO) is proved to be a simple, controllable and efficient electrochemistry technique that can prepare protective ceramic coatings on magnesium alloys. In this paper, electrolyte containing silicate salts was used for microarc oxidation to form ceramic bioactive coatings on the ZK61 alloy substrate. The structure characteristics and element distributions of the coating were investigated by XRD, TEM, SEM and EPMA. The MAO samples were immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 7 and 14 days, respectively. The surface characteristic of the immersed coatings was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results show that these MAO coatings have low crystallinity and are mainly composed of MgO, Mg2SiO4 and Mg2Si2O6. The coating surface is porous. During the SBF immersion period, the nucleation and precipitation of bone like apatites occur on the MAO coating surface. The corrosion resistance of the substrate is improved by the MAO coatings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.