**4.5 Palm oil-sensitive stages for irrigation**

Two sensitive phases of drought in palm oil are sexual differentiation (approximately 30 months before harvest) and abortion (approximately 10 months before harvest). The second drought-sensitive phase may coincide with the photoperiodsensitive phase, making their distinction difficult.

Moisture stress during the above two stages will result in more male flowers and the abscission of female flowers. Hence, yields get decreased. Irrigation at these stages can effectively mitigate the adverse effect on the production of bunches thereby palm oil yield. It is documented that the effect of soil moisture deficits reveals only 1.5 to 2 years later on palm oil bunch yield by increasing the production of male inflorescences compared to that of female flowers and by including abortion of female inflorescence.
