The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 21 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include cotton, lettuce, pea, peanut, safflower, soybean, and vinca.

The certificates are being issued under the Plant Variety Protection Act and 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 certificates are:

• the DP 6207 Acala variety of cotton, developed by O & A Enterprises, Inc., Maricopa, Ariz.;

• the DP 393 variety of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Corporation, Scott, Miss.;

• the HQ110CT variety of cotton, developed by Seed Source, Inc., Stoneville, Miss.;

• the Acala BXN Nova* variety of cotton developed by California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors, Bakersfield, Calif.;

• the Anthem variety of lettuce, developed by Shamrock Seed Company, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;

• the Laguna Fresca variety of lettuce, developed by Central Valley Seeds, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;

• the Dallas variety of lettuce, developed by America Takii, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;

• the Ventana and North Star varieties of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seed, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;

• the Silverado variety of lettuce, developed by Enza Zaden Beheer B.V., Salinas, Calif.;

• the Stirling variety of field pea, developed by U.S. Government, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Pullmans, Wash.;

• the Andru II*, Carver*, ANorden*, DP-1*, Hull*, AP-3*, and GP-1* varieties of peanut, developed by Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Gainesville, Fla.;

• the S-333* variety of safflower, developed by California Oils Corporation, Woodland, Calif.;

• the 93M01 variety of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;

• the Victory Pure White variety of vinca, developed by Sakata Seed Corporation, 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.