A field experiment was conducted during kharif season 2004 at Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad to study the effect of drought management on growth and yield of cotton genotypes under rainfed condition. The experiment was laid out in split plot design, with four genotypes viz. Jayadhar, Rahs-14, Abadhita and LRA-5166 and five drought management treatments such as glycine betaine foliar spray @ 3%, proline seed treatment @ 0.1 %, CaCl2 seed treatment @ 2%, integrated drought management (lDM) and control. The results revealed that the genotype Jayadhar recorded significantly higher yield (721.2 kg/ha) and the magnitude of yield increase was 45 per cent higher than the lowest yielding genotype Abadhita (390.0 kg/ha). The yield parameters like yield per plant, number of squares per plant, number of flowers per plant, number of bolls per plant and growth parameters like number of monopodia, leaf area index, leaf area duration, dry matter accumulation were higher with Jayadhar compared to other genotypes. Jayadhar also recorded significantly higher specific left weight and relative water contents.  Significant difference among the drought management treatments with respect to growth and yield parameters, specific leaf weight, relative water contents and soil moisture were observed. The integrated drought management treatment recorded significantly higher yield (639.8 kg/ha) and it was 27.5 per cent higher than control (463.86 kg/ha). The growth and yield parameters were higher with IDM treatment compared to other treatments.  IDM treatments showed higher soil moisture at 0-30 and 30-60 cm depths.  The study indicated that Jayadhar has better agronomic response under rainfed situation and integrated drought management practices help in getting better yields of cotton.