USDA Licenses 16 Varieties

WASHINGTON - Aug 18/08 - SNS -- The USDA issued certificates of protection to developers of 16 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bahiagrass, barley, bluegrass, fescue, corn, gamagrass, peanut, soybean and wheat.

The 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 16 certificates are:

- the TifQuik variety of bahiagrass, developed by University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., Athens, Ga. / The United States Government as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.;

- the Rawson* variety of barley, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.;

- the Midnight Star, Bluestone, Golden Nugget, and Blacksburg II varieties of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc, Hubbard, Ore.;

- the Barrister variety of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by J.R. Simplot Company, Post Falls, Idaho;

- the Galatea variety of tall fescue, developed by DLF International Seeds, Halsey, Ore.;

- the N69391, H60231, and N61211 varieties of corn, developed by JC Robinson Seeds, Inc., Waterloo, Neb.;

- the HIGHLANDER variety of eastern gamagrass, developed by Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Mississippi State, Miss.;

- the 93Y11 variety of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;

- the Osage variety of soybean, developed by Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Station, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.;

- the Georgia-06G* variety of peanut, developed by University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., Athens, Ga.; and

- the Fuller* variety of common wheat, developed by Kansas State University Research Foundation, Manhattan, Kan..

* In the United States, seed of this variety shall be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed, and 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).