Cactus pear (Opuntia spp.)

Nowadays, cultivating plant species that could be used for multiple purposes and can ensure sustainable agriculture and food security is becoming a worldwide objective. In fact, agricultural production is becoming affected by many factors such as the growing human population, water scarcity and climate change. Under such conditions, cactus pear cultivation could be encouraged since this plant genus is characterized by high adaptability to different climatic and environmental conditions, high genetic diversity that could be used in breeding programs, has many economic and ecological benefits and could be used for multiple purposes. The present book gives an overview on cactus pear cultivation, reports findings from literature regarding cactus pear genetics, describes the recent achievements in using biotechnological tools for cactus pear improvement and finally highlights the main cultivation purposes of this plant genus.