Mangani, RobertTesfamariam, Eyob HabteBellocchi, GianniHassen, Abubeker2019-02-082019-02-082018-09-29Mangani, R., Tesfamariam, E.H., Bellocchi, G. et al. 2018, 'Growth, development, leaf gaseous exchange, and grain yield response of maize cultivars to drought and flooding stress', Sustainability, vol. 10, art. 3492, pp. 1-18.2071-1050 (online)10.3390/su10103492http://hdl.handle.net/2263/68436The prevalence of extreme drought and flooding is posing a threat to the food security of Sub-Saharan African countries. There are national and international calls for actions to investigate the level of resilience of existing crop cultivars to multiple abiotic stress conditions. A two-year study was carried out in South Africa to determine growth, development, yield, yield components, and physiological responses of two contrasting maize cultivars—PAN 413 (drought tolerant) and PAN 6Q-245 (drought intolerant) under drought and flooding. The drought effect on grain yield was more pronounced from mid-vegetative to tasselling stages, regardless of the cultivar with yields deviating from the control by 53–58% (2015/2016) and 34–42% (2016/2017). The effect of flooding on grain yield was pronounced at the early vegetative stage for both cultivars, with yield reductions ranging between 26–30% (2015/2016) and 15–21% (2016/2017). Results from the study indicated that existing maize cultivars (drought tolerant and drought intolerant) are both prone to likely extreme drought events experienced during the tasselling stage. Results also showed that both cultivars are prone to probable flooding events before the tasselling stage. It is recommended that plant breeders’ efforts be directed to developing maize cultivars with multiple stress tolerances.en© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Grain yield componentsGrain yieldLeaf area indexPhotosynthesisStomatal conductanceZea maysNatural and agricultural sciences articles SDG-02Natural and agricultural sciences articles SDG-13Natural and agricultural sciences articles SDG-15Article