The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of nine new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include cotton, peanut, bentgrass and wheat.

The nine 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 nine certificates are:

• the DP 6211 Acala and DP WhitePima varieties of cotton, developed by O & A Enterprises Inc., Maricopa, Arizona;

• the PM 2266 RR variety of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Corporation, Scott, Mississippi;

• the FM 800RR variety of cotton, developed by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Campbell, Australia;

• the Solana* variety of cotton developed by California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors, Bakersfield, California;

• the Georgia-O2C* variety of peanut, developed by University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc., Athens, Georgia;

• the 962* variety of creeping bentgrass, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas;

• the Simon* variety of soft white winter wheat, developed by Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho; and

• the Renwood 3260* variety of common wheat, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia.

* 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.