Abstract: 【Objective】 To clarify the response of cotton morphological characteristics to different water conditions in Xinjiang in the hope of providing scientific basis for establishing cotton moisture diagnosis technology based on morphological characteristics. 【Methods】 The field experiment method was used to set different water treatments (100%, 85%, 75%, 60% of the normal drip irrigation amount) to observe the changes of cotton morphological characteristics (distance of top petioles, angle stem-petiole, angle leaves) and plant water content during the irrigation period under the normal drip irrigation condition at the bud stage, the flowering and bolling stage, and meanwhile the differences of cotton morphological characteristics under different irrigation amounts were compared. 【Results】 (1) In an irrigation cycle at the bud stage, after irrigation, the angle between petiole and water content of cotton plants decreased with time, and the distance between the top two leaves increased with time; There were differences in plant morphology among different irrigation treatments, and the leaf angle decreased slightly with the decrease of irrigation amount.(2) In an irrigation cycle at flowering and bolling stage, after irrigation, the angle between petiole and water content of cotton plants decreased with time, while the distance between the top two leaves and the angle between leaves increased with time.There were differences in plant morphology among different irrigation treatments.The distance between the top two leaves and the angle between leaves increased with the decrease of irrigation amount, while the angle between petioles decreased with the decrease of irrigation amount.(3) Correlation analysis showed that the distance between the top two leaves was negatively correlated with plant moisture content, and the angle between petioles was positively correlated with plant moisture content. 【Conclusion】 To sum up, the distance between the top two leaves, the angle between petioles and the angle between leaves of cotton have a good response law to the cotton water situation at the bud stage and the flowering and bolling stage, which can be used as the basis for cotton water diagnosis in the field.