To explore the difference in response to Mn deficiency between rice and wheat, the growth, element concentration and distribution in different parts of rice and wheat grown in hydroponic culture under Mn-deficiency and -sufficient conditions were compared. Furthermore, the expression level of Mn-related transporter genes in the roots between two species were compared. The rescelts showed that compared with plants with sufficient Mn supply at seedling stage, Mn deficiency for 21 days resulted in serious growth inhibition in rice, but not in wheat. Under Mn-deficient condition, the translocation rate of Mn from root to shoot in wheat increased by 16.4% compared with sufficient Mn supply. In contrast, the translocation rate of Mn from root to shoot in rice decreased by 7.5%. Expression analysis showed that the absolute expression level of TaNRAMP2 in wheat roots was 3.8-5.1 times higher than that of OsNRAMP2 in rice. These results indicate that wheat is more tolerant to Mn deficiency stress than rice through efficient root-to-shoot translocation, which may be associated with higher expression of NRAMP2 in wheat.