The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 11 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include barley, bentgrass, bluegrass, eggplant, fescue, oat, rice and wheat.

The 11 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 11 certificates are:

• the Catchpenny* variety of barley, developed by University of Maryland, Riverdale, Md.;

• the Alister and Glory varieties of colonial bentgrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;

• the Fuzzy variety of rough bluegrass, developed by DLF International Seeds Inc., Halsey, Ore.;

• the EZZ 24-0547 variety of eggplant, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds Inc., Oxnard, Calif.;

• the Pathfinder variety of strong creeping red fescue, developed by Lebanon Seaboard Corporation, Huntsville, Utah;

• the Drumlin variety of oat, developed by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wis.;

• the Ahrent variety of rice, developed by University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Ark.;

• the Clear White* variety of common wheat, developed by The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, Calif.;

• the Harvard* variety of common wheat, developed by Dr. Peter Franck, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany; and

• the Mohler variety of common wheat, developed by WestBred LLC, Bozeman, Mont.

* 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/pvpindex.htm.