Pests and Infectious Diseases of Olive Trees in Spain, and Main Control Strategies

Olive cultivation is one of the main agricultural assets in Spain, especially in Andalusia, where the largest extension of olive groves is found. This chapter focuses on the main phytophagous arthropods and infectious diseases that affect olive trees in Spain. These are grouped into categories according to their economic importance damages. In the case of pests, the different species are listed according to the different resources affected: olive development, production, fruit, and olive oil quality. Likewise, the different types of management in current olive growing are considered, highlighting the role of herbaceous cover in maintaining the community of beneficial insects, and the factors that influence their entomophagous activities. In the case of infectious olive diseases, the causal agents and the characteristic symptoms they cause in olive trees are described, resulting in three categories, depending on their economic relevance. For the most frequent ones,—peacock spot, verticillium wilt, olive knot, anthracnose, and cercosporiosis—the detection methods are described, along with the factors that favor the severity of their attacks (climatology, cultivation practices, etc.) as well as the susceptibility of the most common cultivars in Spain.