The European or Mediterranean cultivated olive (Olea europaea L., subsp. europaea, var. europaea) is an ancient crop notable for its early domestication. Today, hundreds of olive varieties are grown to produce high-quality fruit for oil and table olives for human consumption. Over the last 30 years, the olive industry has undergone profound innovation due to scientific and technical advances, particularly in genomics, breeding, orchard management, mechanization and agro-ecology. Not all these developments are currently available to smaller producers. Outside the Mediterranean Basin, where it has been present for over 6,000 years, olive cultivation has spread to many other countries. These new olive-growing areas are helping further the expansion of the industry, due to increased awareness of the nutritional and health properties of extra virgin olive oil. This book is a much-needed update on olive biology and cultivation, with contributions from leading international experts, and includes: Genetics and breeding Olive propagation and nursery Planting olive orchards Horticultural management of olive orchards Plant protection Olive by-products Multifunctionality of olive groves and ecosystem services The Olive: Botany and Production is an invaluable resource for researchers and students in horticulture and agriculture, in addition to producers involved in olive orchard management.

Table of Contents:
1: A short history of the olive 2: Biology 2.1: Anatomy and morphology 2.2: Vegetative and reproductive physiology 2.3: Ecophysiology 3: Genetics and Breeding 3.1: Olive genome structure, evolution and domestication 3.2: Cultivated and wild olive germplasm - distribution, management, exploitation 3.3: Genotyping technologies for olive cultivar characterization and development of functional markers 3.4: Morphological Phenotyping 3.5: Developing tools for genomics-assisted breeding 3.6: Breeding strategies and achievements for new olive oil varieties 3.7: Breeding strategies and achievements for table olive varieties 3.8: Biotechnological approaches in olive breeding 4: Olive Propagation and Nursery 5: Planting New Olive Orchards 5.1: Planting models for new olive growing 5.2: Site selection and olive orchard design and establishment 6: Horticultural management of olive orchard 6.1: Soil Management 6.2: Water requirements and irrigation 6.3: Nutrition and fertilization 6.4: Olive training systems and pruning 6.5: Olive harvesting 7: Plant protection 7.1: Responses to abiotic stresses 7.2: Pest Management in Olive Orchards 7.3: Olive diseases 8: Olive by-products (wood, leaves) 8.1: Olive Leaf Extract 8.2: Valorization of the olive-oil chain by-products as soil amendment 9: Multifunctionality of olive groves and ecosystem services 9.1: Multifunctionality of olive groves 9.2: Towards modern olive polycultures 9.3: The landscape of the olive tree: old and new visions