The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 14 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include cotton and potato.

The 14 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 14 certificates are:

• the GC-251 variety of cotton, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;

• the DP 420 RR, DP 565, PM 1199 RR, PM 2156 RR and Sure-Grow 585R varieties of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Company, LLC., Scott, Miss.;

• the TAMCOT PYRAMID* variety of cotton, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas;

• the Acala GLS* and Acala Riata RR* varieties of cotton, developed by California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors, Bakersfield, California;

• the ST 239, BXN 49B, GC-546RR and ST 5222B2 varieties of cotton, developed by Emergent Genetics, Inc., Memphis, Tennessee.; and

• the MARINE variety of potato, developed by Germicopa S.A., Quimper, France.

* 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 or the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov/science/PVPO/pvp.htm