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.

Contributions by: Giovanni Agosteo, Barbera Giuseppe, Angjelina Belaj, Antonio Belcari, Karim Barkaoui, Giora Ben-Ari, Alon Ben-Gal, Giovanni Benelli, Rita Biasi, Iris Biton, Konstantinos Blazakis, Aureliano Bombarely, Antonio Brunori, Santa Olga Cacciola, Angelo Canale, Giovanni Caruso, Tiziano Caruso, Nicola Cinosi, Arnon Dag, Ran Erel, Daniela Farinelli, Louise Ferguson, Tommaso Ganino, Jesus A Gil-Ribes, Calero José Alfonso Gómez, Riccardo Gucci, Consolación Guerrero, Panagiotis Kalaitzis, Maurizio Lambardi, Lauri Pierre-Eric, Lorenzo León, Bianco Riccardo Lo, Enrico Maria Lodolini, Francisco Luque, Hanene Mairech, Picchi Malayka, Giulia Marino, Roberto Mariotti, Francesco Paolo Marra, G Medina-Alonso, José Mercado, Maurizio Micheli, Soraya Mousavi, Monji Msallem, Dvora Namdar, Isabel Narváez, Elena Palomo-Ríos, Ruggero Petacchi, Pierluigi Pierantozzi, Malayka Samantha Picchi, Amalia Rosa Maria Piscopo, Fernando Pliego-Alfaro, Primo Proietti, Alessandro Ragazzi, Pilar Rallo, Hava F Rapoport, Luca Regni, Laia Ribalta, A. Rosati, Patrizia Sacchetti, Luca Sebastiani, Alicia Serrano, Giuseppe Surico, Luca Testi, Maria Cristina Valeri, Andrea Vitale, Uri Yermiyahu, Hande Yilmaz-Düzyaman, Valeria Zeni, Isaac Zipori, James Friel, Raul de la Rosa, Salvatore Camposeo, Garcia Sergio Castro