Drought is one of the main problems for the development of rice plants. The aims of this study were selecting several Ponorogo local rice cultivars that have resistance to drought stress based on germination ability in various PEG 6000 (Polyethylene Glycol 6000) concentration treatment, root penetration ability to wax layer (consisted of 60% wax and 40% vaseline) and chlorophyll content during drought stress. The germination test with PEG 6000 used a completely randomized design (CRD) factorial pattern consisting of 2 (two) treatment factors, namely cultivar and PEG concentration with 3 replications. The first treatment factor was a variety of Ponorogo local rice cultivars consisting of 5 cultivars, namely: Legowo, Mlarak 1, Malihan Ketan, Philips and Edok. The second treatment factor was PEG concentration, consisting of 4 (four) levels, namely: 0 (Control), 15, 20 and 25%. Rice seeds that passed the selection using PEG 6000 in the germination phase, were used in the root penetration ability test. Data were analyze dusing variance analysis with 95% confidence level and continued with Duncan multiple distance test at 5% level. The results of the study revealed that Legowo cultivars showed the best germination in 25% PEG treatment with 15% germination percentage, 0,5 cm seminal root length, 0,1cm shoot length, seminal root length ratio per shoot length 4,2 and vigor index 0,1. At 20% PEG treatment, Edok cultivars gave the best results with 85% germination percentage, 1,7 cm seminal root length, 0,3 cm shoot length, seminal root length ratio per-shoot length 5,4 and vigor index 1,7. The highest number of roots that can penetrate the wax layer was produced by Edok cultivars averaging 19,3 strands with an average length of 25,5 cm.