The objective of the study is to identify resistant genotypes for water stress condition at early vegetative phase. The results revealed that Alfisol impose moisture stress earlier as compared to Vertisol due to differences in water holding capacity. However, Vertisol restricts root length at deeper zone but allows prolific root growth at superficial soil layer as compared to Alfisol. The longest root length recorded in stressed environment suggested that moisture deficit in soil triggers roots to go further down to extract more soil moisture from deeper soil layers. It was also observe that, increase in moisture stress leads to defoliation, reducing leaf area to restrict transpiration losses and ultimately reducing shoot weight. Among maturity groups, extra-early maturing lines are more vulnerable to moisture stress as compared to medium and long duration lines. In early maturing lines, tendency of fast growth and development rate was observed as compared to medium maturing genotypes which can be consider as a mechanism for drought avoidance. However, the number of primary roots was more dominant in medium-duration genotypes (i.e. ICPL 14002) which is an important trait to be consider for imparting drought tolerance.