The oil palm (Elaeis guinneensis Jcq.) is one of the most important crops in Colombia. Although it produces the highest yield per hectare of all the oil crops in the world, the productivity of the crop in Colombia is affected by long drought periods in almost 70% of the planted area. Management alternatives for this problem are limited due to poor irrigation infrastructure and the depletion of the water supply caused by the destruction of the water basins. The only feasible solution is the breeding for tolerant materials with the capability of a sustain production with low water supply. However, this is a long term solution that might take a couple of decades. In the meantime, the proposed strategy is to exploit the differential tolerance that might be present in oil palm genotypes, already used and commercialized in the Country. Since it is expected that the planted area will increase to around one million hectares in the next 10 years, it is necessary to screen the commercial genotypes in order to asses their degree of water deficit tolerance and recommend the most suitable ones to be planted in each Colombian oil palm region. The aim of this project is to determine the tolerance or susceptibility to water deficit of commercial genotypes used in Colombia in order to recommend the best planting region for each one of them based on their degree of tolerance. The project has two phases in which the water deficit tolerance would be determined for 12 commercial materials. In the first phase (funding is request for this phase), plants would be exposed to water deficit in the nursery stage and their tolerance assessed by survival rates, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, water potential, root physiology, and biochemical (oxidative stress enzymes and substrates, pigments, proline, sugars) determinations.