The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 23 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bean, bentgrass, bermudagrass, cotton, lettuce, peanut, potato, rice, safflower, and wheat.

The 23 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 23 certificates are:

• the RedKanner* variety of field bean, developed by Donald H. Wallace, and Donald E. Halseth of Cornell University; and W. Larry Hymes of Ithaca, N.Y.;
   
• the Independence variety of creeping bentgrass, developed by Lebanon Seaboard Corporation & Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Huntsville, Utah;
   
• the Majestic* variety of bermudagrass, developed by RNB, LLC, Yuma, Ariz.;
   
• the PHY 72 Acala* variety of cotton, developed by Phytogen Seed Company, LLC, Corcoran, Calif.;
   
• the SG 215 BG/RR and DP 444 BG/RR varieties of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Company, LLC, Scott, Miss.;
   
• the Platinum Pima* and Acala Fiesta RR* varieties of cotton, developed by California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors, Bakersfield, Calif.;
   
• the FM 960RR variety of cotton, developed by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Campbell, Australia;
   
• the Coastal Star and Telluride varieties of lettuce, developed by Enza Zaden Beheer B.V., Enkhuizen, The Netherlands;
   
• the Ponderosa variety of lettuce, developed by Enza Zaden Beheer B.V., Salinas, Calif.;
   
• the Lighthouse variety of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seed, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;
   
• the Mendoza variety of lettuce, developed by Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel B. V., De Lier, The Netherlands;
   
• the Georgia-03L* and Georgia-04S* varieties of peanut, developed by University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., Athens, Ga.;
   
• the FL 2048 variety of potato, developed by Frito-Lay North America, Inc., Plano, Texas;
   
• the Cybonnet variety of rice, developed by Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Ark.;
   
• the Nutrasaff *variety of safflower, developed by Montana State University, Bozeman, Mont.;
   
• the MEL* variety of club wheat, developed by General Mills Operations, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.;
   
• the Snowbird* variety of common wheat, developed by Cereal Research Centre-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada;
   
• the ClearFirst* variety of common wheat, developed by Northwest Plant Breeding Company, Pullman, Wash.; and
   
• the Oklee* variety of common wheat, developed by Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minn..

* 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.