Water deficit is known to retard phenological development and reduce growth of rice. We investigated whether the ability of a cultivar to extract soil water and to tolerate water deficit affected its growth during and folloing water deficit, and consequently its grain yield. Four contrasting rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (CPIC8, Lemont, Rikuto-Norin 12, and Todoroki-Wase) were subjected to water deficit during either vegetative or reproductive growth stages. We examined the contribution of genotypic differences in water-extraction ability and drought tolerance to phenological development, crop growth rate and grain yield