Water scarcity and hence drought stress is known as a major hurdle to the production of crop plants in arid-semiarid regions of the world, including Iran. Understanding plants responses to drought and exploring drought-resilient genotypes of different crop species is vital to the successful tackling of this constraint. Many medicinal plants require less water in comparison to certain non-medicinal widely grown crop plants. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is a herbaceous medicinal species which has not been examined sufficiently in terms of drought response. Eleven genotypes of fennel were, thus, sown and established in 2011 in the arid climate of Isfahan in Central Iran as a ratooned crop and subjected to either limited irrigation (i.e. irrigation after depletion of 75-85% of the available soil moisture) or sufficient irrigation (i.e. irrigation after depletion of 35-45% of the available soil moisture) water supply for a period of six years (i.e. 2011 to 2017). The 11 fennel genotypes (namely, Birjand, Hamedan, Aviana, Mashahd, Isfahan, Bushehr, Shiraz, Urmia, Yazd, Kerman, and Kashan) were assigned to sub plots and the two irrigation regimes were chosen as main plots in a 3-replicate randomized complete block design that was carried out in Lavark Research Farm of the Isfahan University of Technology, located at Najafabad (Latitude of 32? 32? N, Longitude of 51? 22? E), Iran. For each year of trial, the crop was harvested in late September-early October to measure growth, seed yield, and yield components, above-ground dry mass, essential oil production, and evaluate its economic feasibility. Besides, some physiological characteristics relevant to the seed yield under different irrigation regimes were studied in the final year of harvest, i.e. 2017. Genotypes Shiraz and Yazd were able to maintain a greater seed yield in the presence of drought, due mainly to a greater proline concentration and leaf water potential. Over the six years of the study, seed essential oil concentration increased but seed yield, plant height, seeds/plant, 1000-seeds weight, plant above-ground dry mass, water use efficiency and essential oil yield were decreased in the presence of drought. Different traits were modified differently with the stand age; the greatest seed yield, harvest index, and essential oil percent were obtained in the 4 th , 1 st , and 6 th years of harvest, respectively. An analysis of costs and benefits of fennel produced as a ratooned crop (i.e. instead of wheat) revealed profitability and feasibility of this medicinal plant, quantified based upon net present value, at least under non-drought irrigation scenarios in Isfahan, central Iran. Key words: drought stress, fennel, physiological traits, functional traits, economic analysis.