[Impact of moisture on oil palm yield]
1998
Foo, S.F.
One of the most important factors affecting the growth and production of oil palm is moisture. It has a direct effect on the proper functioning of the physiological process at different phenological development stages of the inflorescence. Moisture stress suppresses female inflorescence formation and increases abortion of inflorescences especially female inflorescences. Efficiency of photosynthesis, frond and bunch production is also higher in water areas. The need for adequate moisture is clearly demonstrated by the lysimeter study. During the drought period, the potential evapotranspiration (PE) of immature palms could be as high as 7.0 mm/day and that for mature palms up to 9.0 mm/day. The inadequate water supply to meet such high evapotranspiration demand during the dry period will severely affect sex differentiation and the subsequent inflorescence development process and this will eventually reduce the ultimate yield. Through irrigation and adequate fertilizer application the lysimeter palm has achived 59 t FFB/ha at a palm age of 19 years. An irrigation trial on a semi-commercial scale in a dry area has achieved 38.8 t FFB/ha at the third year of irrigation as compared with only 14.1 t FFB/ha without irrigation. At 8-10 years old, the irrigated palms could sustain a yield of 30-35 t FFB/ha as compared with 16-18 t FFB/ha of the non-irrigated palms. The potential yield of an area is defined as the maximum possible yield attainable under the most favourable environmental condition coupled with optimum agro-management inputs of that area. It should serve as the target yield for the management to achieve. For simplicity, the potential yield in this country can be classified into three broad groups based on the rainfall regimes and these are sub-divided into three classes depending on the types of terrain. Wet areas with gently undulating terrain have a potential yield as high as 31-32 t FFB/ha at the mature palm stage, whereas for dry areas with steep terrain, the potential yield can be as low as 18-19 t FFB/ha for similar palm age. Moisture conservation is the key towards achieving the potential yield. The common moisture conservation practices include (i) terracing (ii) establishing maximum vegetative ground cover except for woody plants and lallang (iii)spreading of pruned fronds to cover as much area as possible by placing the fronds across the slope, (iv) diverting water from the road back to the field (v) digging of moisture conservation pits with proper inlets and (vi) mulching with EFB and palm trunk chips. The implementation of the above moisture conservation practices will definitely improve the yield towards that of the potential yield.
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