The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 17 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include lettuce, potato, rice, ryegrass, tobacco and wheat.

The 17 certificates are being issued under the Plant Variety Protection Act. The certificates require that the varieties be new, distinct, uniform and stable. The owners will have the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, import and export their products in the United States for the duration of protection.

The 17 certificates are:

•    the Hallmark and Hallmark W varieties of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seed, Inc. Salinas, Calif.;

•    the Sirius variety of potato, developed by SAKA-RAGIS Pflanzenzucht GbR, Hamburg, Germany;

•    the AB3004 variety of rice, developed by Busch Agricultural Resources, Inc., Pleasant Grove, Calif.;

•    the Jacinto* variety of rice, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas;

•    the Citation III, Chaparral, Omega 3 and Brightstar II varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;

•    the Penguin variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Seed Research of Oregon, Corvallis, Ore.;

•    the Palmer III variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by KRB Seed Company, LLC, Winston Salem, N.C.;

•    the Prelude III, Repell III, and Pennant II varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by ProSeeds Marketing, Inc., Jefferson, Ore.;

•    the NC 2000* variety of tobacco, developed by North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.;

•    the Explorer* variety of common wheat, developed by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, Mont.; and

•    the Matt* variety of durum wheat, developed by Arizona Plant Breeders, Inc., Arizona City, Ariz.                                          

* In the United States seed of this variety (1) shall be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed and (2) shall conform to the number of generations specified by the owner of the rights (84 STAT. 1542, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 2321 ET SEQ).

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which provides time limited marketing protection to developers of new and distinct seed- reproduced and tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers. For additional information contact the Plant Variety Protection Office at telephone (301) 504-5518, fax (301) 504-5291