Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the difference of stem root and bud germination of three sugarcane varieties with different drought resistance ’Zhongzhe9’（ZZ9）, drought resistance is strong; ’Zhongzhe2’（ZZ2）, drought resistance is weak; ’Xintaitang22’（Xintaitang22）, drought resistance is medium under different drought stress conditions in early germination. In the experiment, hydroponics was used to simulate drought stress with PEG-6000 CK, 10%（w/v） and 20%（w/v） for 12 consecutive days, and the germination quantity of roots and buds, the biomass of roots and buds, the morphological characteristics and physiological indexes of roots were collected. The results showed that the root morphological indexes（total root length, root area, root volume and root diameter, etc.） of ’Zhongzhe9’ with strong drought resistance were significantly higher than those of ’Zhongzhe2’ and ’Xintaitang22’. With the deepening of PEG-6000 stress, the root shedding rate of ’Zhongzhe2’ was significantly higher than that of ’Zhongzhe9’. Under high concentration of PEG-6000（20%） stress, the root number of ’Zhongzhe2’ decreased sharply with the extension of time, while the root number of ’Zhongzhe9’ showed an increasing trend. The results showed that ’Zhongzhe9’ could maintain vitality and recover from dormancy state under simulated drought stress with high concentration of PEG-6000. ’Zhongzhe9’ had the largest rhizome biomass and the smallest sprout biomass, whereas ’Zhongzhe2’ had the smallest root biomass and the largest sprout biomass. Germination and growth of buds need more water and nutrients, which undoubtedly increases the burden of water absorption of roots in the early stage of germination, which should not be an advantage for drought resistance of plants, which may be one of the reasons why ’Zhongzhe9’ has strong drought resistance and ’Zhongzhe2’ has weak drought resistance. Under high concentration PEG-6000, SOD and POD activities of ’Zhongzhe2’ and ’Xintaitang22’ decreased, while ’Zhongzhe9’ showed a continuous upward trend, and the proline content of roots of ’Zhongzhe9’also increased significantly（240%）. The above characteristics of sugarcane stem germination under PEG-6000 simulated drought stress were consistent with the observation results of drought-resistant phenotypes in the field. The results of this experiment provided a reference for rapid selection of sugarcane varieties with strong drought resistance.