The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 10 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include fescue, pepper, ryegrass, soybean and zinnia.

The 10 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 10 certificates are:

• the Focus variety of tall fescue, developed by Turf Merchants Inc., Tangent, Ore.;

• the Prospect variety of tall fescue, developed by Pennington Seed Inc., Madison, Ga.;

• the Finelawn Elite variety of tall fescue, developed by ProSeeds Marketing, Inc., Jefferson, Ore.;

• the CH-19 AMA variety of red pepper, developed by Ajinomoto CO. Inc., Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan;

• the Pizzazz variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Turf Merchants Inc., Tangent, Ore.;

• the Quick Trans and Brightstar SLT varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc, Hubbard, Ore.;

• the 5601T* variety of soybean, developed by Tennessee Advanced Genetics, Inc., Nashville, Tenn.; and

• the Profusion Fire and Profusion Apricot varieties of zinnia, developed by Sakata Seed Corp., Tsuzuki-Ku, Yokohama, Japan.

* 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.