Bread wheat is mainly grown in rainfed and irrigation-limited regions, where drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses worldwide, therefore improving drought resistance is of great important for bread wheat production. As drought could occur at different growth stages with various severity, many traits are involved in the drought resistance, therefore drought tolerance is a complex and quantitative trait. For improving drought resistance in bread wheat, we screened a wide range of wheat germplasm, including wheat landraces, synthetic hexaploid wheat, triticale, and wheat addition or translocation lines based on their physiological and agronomic traits in the rainfed environments of northern China. We also evaluated the effects of GA-responsive dwarfing genes, such as Rht4, Rht5, Rht12, Rht13, and Rht18 on the drought related traits and agronomic traits. We found that in general those GA-responsive dwarfing genes could improve or maintain coleoptile length, seedling early vigor and root system, while reducing plant height to some extent, but their effects on agronomic traits varied greatly for different dwarfing genes and under different genetic backgrounds. Combining those strategies, some good wheat lines are created, which may provide good germplasm for wheat production in the rainfed and irrigation-limited areas.