The study was therefore, contemplated to determine the effect of drought stress on some physiological
and agronomic parameters of three rice cultivars naming Basmati-Super, Shaheen-Basmati and Basmati-385.
Cultivar Shaheen-Basmati exhibited comparatively more tolerance to drought stress at all the three growth stages . Growth stage panicle initiation was the most sensitive one exhibiting more adverse effects on all the physiological and agronomic Similarly, all the physiological and yield components under study except transpiration rate and number of sterile grains per panicle had a strong and positive correlation with paddy yield.