Objective:
At a workshop convened by the CIMMYT in 2006, participants agreed that the global effort on Fuarium would be enhanced by the addition of two new international spring wheat nurseries where breeders from wheat improvement programs most active on scab would directly contribute with their elite and promising entries to have them tested across other environments. The task of developing and distributing the nurseries on an annual basis was assigned to CIMMYT. The overall objective of these two nurseries is to make useful materials for Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Fusarium Crown Rot (FCR) available throughout the world.

Approach:
The two nurseries will comprise: (1) Fusarium International Elite Spring Wheat Nursery (FIESWN): The specific objective of this nursery is to test the performance of entries across a range of environments, and to allow participants to identify useful sources of resistance from other programs. The nursery includes elite FHB/FCR resistant spring wheat lines (registered or near-registered resistant cultivars) that have performed well in regional FHB/FCR nurseries. The inclusion of regionally resistant and susceptible checks is an important component of the nursery to verify potential differences in virulence and epidemics across locations. (2) Fusarium International Preliminary Spring Wheat Nursery (FIPSWN): The specific objective of this nursery is to: (a) identify new sources of Fusarium resistance; (b) examine the stability of QTL's for FHB/FCR resistance; (c) provide surveillance for new/or problematic pathogen strains; and (d) generate knowledge and/or solutions for issues such as the negative correlation between resistance QTL's and other traits. Entries for this nursery are proposed by the contributor and can include any materials which address the objects listed above including NILs of FHB/FCR QTL's and parents of mapping populations, etc.