Abstract: Cold plasma treatment has attracted much attention in recent years, due to its enhancement of crop growth. Oats have been the fourth largest cereal crop in the world. However, the increasing stress of drought and salinization has led to low germination rates and yields of oat seeds. Therefore, it is very necessary to improve the drought resistance of oats. This study aims to investigate the impact of cold plasma treatment on oat germination and drought resistance. The oat seeds of Bayou 1 were used as test material. PEG-6000 solutions were set at the concentrations of 3%, 10%, 15%, and 20% to simulate drought stress. After that, the oat seeds were treated with the atmospheric pressure argon cold plasma with voltages of 4, 5, and 6 kV. The germination and drought resistance were assessed under different degrees of drought stress. A series of indicators were measured, including the germination indicators of oat seeds, and seedling growth, together with the physiological and biochemical indicators, such as germination vigor, germination rate, germination index, vitality index, plant height, root length, number of root hairs, as well as the content of soluble protein, malondialdehyde, and chlorophyll. The results indicated that the cold plasma treatment significantly (P<0.05) increased the hydrophilicity of oat seeds. Once drought stress was not applied, the treatment with a voltage of 5 kV shared the most significant effect on the germination potential, germination rate, germination index, and vitality index of oat seeds. There was also a varying increase in the plant height, root length, root number, chlorophyll content, and soluble protein content of oat seedlings in each treatment group, compared with the control. While the malondialdehyde content was lower than that of the control group under drought stress. The oat drought resistance was also evaluated using membership function and principal component analysis. It was found that the cold plasma treatment with a voltage of 5 kV and a time of 30 s performed the best on the drought resistance of oat seeding under drought stress with PEG-6000 solution concentrations of 3%, 10%, and 15%. The hydrophilicity of seeds that were treated with cold plasma was significantly improved, most of which was found in the treatment voltage of 6KV. The increasing hydrophilicity was beneficial to the water absorption capacity of seeds for the better germination rate of seeds. Cold plasma treatment improved the germination indicators of seeds, including germination potential, germination rate, germination index, and vitality index. The best performance was achieved at the treatment voltage of 5KV. Cold plasma treatment shared the promoting effect on the root length, plant height, and number of root hairs of oat seedlings. Cold plasma treatment also increased the chlorophyll content and soluble protein content of oat seedlings under drought stress, while there was a great reduction in the malondialdehyde content. Plasma treatment can be expected to improve the plant response to drought stress. The findings can also provide theoretical references for oat breeding and cultivation in arid and semi-arid regions.