Drought is one of the primary stress factors affecting plant production， and the germination stage is the most vulnerable period in the plant life cycle. In the breeding of drought-resistant Bromus inermis， evaluating drought tolerance during the germination stage is particularly important. This study employed the double-layer filter paper germination method， measuring eight indicators-including germination rate， germination potential， germination index， root length， and shoot length-under 25% PEG-6000 stress for 100 B. inermis germplasm resources. Principal component analysis， membership functions， and hierarchical clustering analysis were used to comprehensively assess drought tolerance during the germination stage. The results showed that， compared to the control， all observed indicators decreased under 25% PEG stress， with coefficient of variation ranging from 20.853% to 97.876%. There was a significant correlation （P<0.05） among most experimental indicators. There were substantial differences in drought tolerance among materials， with the comprehensive drought tolerance coefficient ranging from 0.612 to 0.169 and the D-value ranging from 0.861 to 0.068. Cluster analysis classified the 100 t100 Bromus inermis germplasm resources into four groups： highly drought-resistant （14 materials）， moderately drought-resistant （34 materials）， weakly drought-resistant （45 materials）， and drought-sensitive （7 materials）. This study identified drought-resistant germplasm such as W1Z622， W1Z627， and W1Z595. The research provides high-quality materials and theoretical support for drought-resistant breeding of B. inermis.

Bromus inermis  /  Seed germination  /  Drought tolerance  /  Comprehensive evaluation  /  Cluster analysis