Drought is one of the most prevalent abiotic stresses that adversely affect rice productivity (Petrozza et al, 2014). Rice is very sensitive to drought stress and drought can cause 50％reduction in rice production globally (Yang et al, 2008). To meet the food needs for global population, 63％ more agricultural production will be required by the year 2050 than the current production (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012;FAO, 2017). Drought stress delays the time of flowering, leading to a reduced number of panicles, number of kels and ultimately grain yield (Pantuwan et al, 2002; Iseki et al, 2014). The reproductive stage of rice is very sensitive to drought stress, and water limitation at this stage causes a serious reduction in rice yield (Aydinsakir et al, 2013) and biomass (Iseki et al, 2014). It is a major challenge to increase rice production under increasing drought due to changing climate, however, it may be achieved through use of drought-tolerant rice varieties having the ability to produce high yield under drought stress conditions (Luo, 2010).