(Northern Italy). The samples were obtained during 2008–2010 (Supplementary Table 1). All samples were stored at 4◦C in sealed plastic bags until mycological and mycotoxin analysis. Fifty seeds were randomly selected,surface sterilized in 0.37% NaOCl (VWR Prolabo, BriarFrance) and immersed in 0.1% ‘Tween 20’ (Acros NewJersey, USA) for 10 min before being dried on sterile filter paper in a laminar flow hood.