The inheritance of some root characters as indicators for drought tolerance was studied in three rice crosses. These characters were, root length, root thickness, root dry weight and root-to-shoot ratio. Dominant alleles were found to be responsible for the inheritance of all root char­acters, with additive effects. High estimates of heritability in broad sense were observed for all traits, while, intermediate to low values of heritability in narrow sense were estimated. Root length was positively correlated with root thickness, root dry weight and root-to-shoot ratio. Root thickness was found to be closely related to both root weight and root-to-shoot ratio.