The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 30 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bentgrass, cotton, fescue, lettuce, oat, pepper, potato, rice, wheat, and wheatgrass.

The 30 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 30 certificates are:

• the Sandhill variety of creeping bentgrass, developed by Seed Research of Oregon, Corvallis, Oregon;

• the 06CX924BR, 06CX2I2R, and 06CX2S6DR varieties of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Company, LLC, Scott, Mississipi;

• the Blackwatch variety of tall fescue, developed by TurfOne, Albany, Ore., and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey;

• the Malawi variety of lettuce, developed by Enza Zaden Beheer B.V., Enkhuizen, the Netherlands;

• the Rubicon variety of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seed, Inc., Salinas, California;

• the Esker and KAME varieties of oat, developed by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin;

• the Spurs* variety of oat, developed by The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois;

• the 126 variety of oat, developed by New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research LTD, Christchurch, New Zealand; 

• the Black Pearl variety of pepper, developed by United States Government as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.;

• the Felsina variety of potato, developed by HZPC HOLLAND B.V., AB Joure, the Netherlands;

• the M-207* and Calamylow-201* varieties of rice, developed by California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation, Inc., Biggs, California;

• the 25R56 and 26R87 varieties of common wheat, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Windfall, Indiana; 

• the Fireball* and Bakker Gold* varieties of common wheat, developed by Dr. Peter Franck, Schwaebisch Hall, Germany;

• the Okfield* variety of common wheat, developed by Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES), Stillwater, Oklahoma;

• the Infinity CL* variety of common wheat, developed by Board of Regents University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska;

• the MSU D8006* variety of common wheat, developed by Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mississippi; 

• the Vida* and MT1159CL* varieties of common wheat, developed by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, Montana;

• the 3706* variety of common wheat, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia;

• the ORSS-1757* and ORCF-102* varieties of common wheat, developed by State of Oregon, by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.;
  the Residence* and Semper* varieties of common wheat, developed by Innoseeds, bv., GA Viljmen, the Netherlands; and

• the Beefmaker* variety of intermediate wheatgrass, developed by the U.S. Government, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 

* 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.

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.