Two field experiments were conducted at sakha research station- kafr Elsheikh- Egypt, during 2014 and 2015 to study the effect of water stress on the root and yield characters of five rice varieties under different irrigation intervals the varieties, were Giza 178, Giza179, GZ 8710-3-2-1-1, GZ 1368-5- S-4 and GZ 5121-5-2 in strip – plot design with three replications, the data were recorded on root length, root thickness, volume and root: shoot ratio, number of panicle/ hill, 1000- grain weight and grain yield ( t/ fed).The data indicated that the varieties GZ 5121-5-2 and GZ 1368-5-S-4 showed the highly reduction in most of root characters as well as grain yield. In addition, the results of this study show that the interaction between irrigation treatments and varieties was significant for root length, root volume (ml), number of roots, root thickness (mm), root: shoot ratio, number of panicles/hill, 1000- grains weight (g), and grain yield (t/fed), in both seasons. The desirable root characters combined with grain yield were obtained from the varieties GZ 8710 and Giza179, implying that these varieties are considered as a donor to water stress tolerant in rice breeding program.