Drought stress often impairs growth and yield of finger millets worldwide. The present study investigated the drought stress responses in four indigenous finger millets (Gangabali, Dengsameli, Kada and Badu) of Koraput compared to one improved variety (Bhairabi) under simulated drought condition at the early growth stage. The physiological and biochemical responses of indigenous finger millets were assessed through chlorophyll fluorescence technique, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidants, proline, protein and lipid peroxidation. The results showed that drought treatment significantly declined the photosystem (PS) II activity by declining the maximal fluorescence, maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII, yield of PSII photochemistry, electron transport rate and photochemical quenching with concomitant increase in minimum fluorescence and non-photosynthetic quenching compared to the respective control plants. Further, the present finding indicates that finger millet leaves responded to PEG-induced drought stress by significantly enhancing antioxidant enzyme activity. The proline accumulation was increased with increasing concentration of drought, which suggests that plants’ ability to resist the effect of drought. Based on the phenotypic response under drought stress, indigenous finger millet genotypes such as Gangabali and Badu showed superior drought tolerance capacity than the improved genotype (Bhairabi) during seedling stages. Overall, the results suggest that these indigenous finger millet genotypes may be beneficial for rainfed areas affected by drought stresses and can be used for future breeding programs.

干旱压力通常会损害全球小米的生长和产量。本研究调查了与一种改良品种（Bhairabi）相比，科拉普特的四个土著手指粟（Gangabali，Dengsameli，Kada和Badu）的干旱胁迫响应。）在生长早期处于模拟干旱条件下。通过叶绿素荧光技术，光合色素，抗氧化剂，脯氨酸，蛋白质和脂质过氧化作用评估了土著小米的生理和生化反应。结果表明，干旱处理显着降低了最大荧光，最大PSII光化学效率，最大PSII光化学收率，电子传输速率和光化学猝灭，从而降低了PSII的活性，同时最小荧光和非光合作用猝灭相伴增加到各自的控制工厂。此外，本发现表明，小米叶通过显着增强抗氧化酶活性来响应PEG诱导的干旱胁迫。脯氨酸的积累随着干旱浓度的增加而增加，这表明植物抵抗干旱的能力。基于干旱胁迫下的表型反应，土著手指粟基因型如Gangabali和Badu在苗期表现出比改良基因型（Bhairabi）更高的耐旱能力。总体而言，结果表明，这些土著手指小米基因型可能对受干旱胁迫影响的雨养地区有益，并可用于未来的育种计划。