USDA GRANTS PROTECTION TO 23 NEW PLANT VARIETIES

March 23, 2006 The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service issued the following press release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of twenty-three new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include barley, bentgrass, coriander, cotton, lettuce, pepper, potato, safflower, triticale, and vinca. The twenty-three 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 twenty-three certificates are: * The Thoroughbred** and Doyce** varieties of barley, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, Va.; * The Stellar-ND* variety of barley, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.; * The Penneagle II* variety of creeping bentgrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.; * The Talavera variety of coriander, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.; * The FIBERMAX 5024 BXN* variety of cotton, developed by BAYER CROPSCIENCE , Lubbock, Texas; * The Cobalt Pima* variety of cotton, developed by California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors, Bakersfield, Calif.; * The DP 6222 RR Acala, DP 454 BG/RR, and DP 6226 BG/RR Acala varieties of cotton, developed by D&PL Technology Holding Company, LLC, Scott, Miss.; * The Green Forest and Thermo Cos varieties of lettuce, developed by Central Valley Seeds, Inc., Salinas, Calif.; * The Terrapin variety of lettuce, developed by Growers Management, Inc,. Roth Farms, Inc., and TKM Farms, Belle Grade, Fla.; * The Lagon variety of lettuce, developed by Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel B.V., De Lier, the Netherlands; * The Marin variety of lettuce, developed by Orsetti Seed Company, Inc., Hollister, Calif.; * The Cyclone variety of lettuce, developed by Progeny Advanced Genetics, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;

* The Grand Slam variety of lettuce, developed by Paragon Seeds, Inc., Salinas, Calif.; * The Juanita variety of pepper, developed by Piquante Brands International (PTY) Limited, Guateng, South Africa; * The FABULA variety of potato, developed by HZPC Holland B.V., Leeuwarden, the Netherlands; * The S-344* variety of safflower, developed by California Oil Corporation, Woodland, Calif.; * The TAMcale 5019* and TAMcale 6331* varieties of triticale, developed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas; and * The Heatwave Red variety of vinca, developed by John Bodger & Sons Company, South El Monte, Calif. ** 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 timelimited 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. Contact: Rufino Hurtado, 202/720-8998, rufino.hurtado@usda.gov; Billy Cox, 202/720-8998, billy.cox@usda.gov. Rufino Hurtado, 202/720-8998, rufino.hurtado@usda.gov; Billy Cox, 202/720-8998, billy.cox@usda.gov.