Upland rice (Oryza sativa) is affected by several biotic and abiotic factors that limit the yield potential of cultivars. In relation to water deficiency, the development of drought tolerant and water efficient cultivars is a priority in breeding programs. With this study aimed to evaluate the agronomic behavior of upland rice lines subjected to different irrigations depths aiming for the selection of genotypes that are tolerant and responsive to water deficiency. Thirty-four recombinant inbreeded lines were evaluated in an experiment using supplementary sprinkling and in a dry test without additional irrigation during the 2015/2016 season. The characteristics evaluated were grain yield, water use efficiency, days for flowering, plant height, and occurrence of rice panicle blast, spikelets number per panicle and spikelet sterility. It was concluded that there were different behaviors of the lines in relation to the level of water that were submitted being possible the selection of genotypes responsive and tolerant to water deficit. Drought tolerance is a complex trait that involves several features in the plant development, being grain yield a good feature to be used by breeding experts to select genotypes, with a view to tolerance to water deficiency.

Keywords: Oryza sativa; irrigations depths; drought tolerance; water deficiency; inbreed.