The importance of Heliothis has grown with the advent of resistance in H.armigera to various pesticides.

Heliothis spp.

Host Plant resistance is one such method and has been adopted in developing plant resistance to a range of plant problems. Plants posses both natural physiological and chemical defence mechanisms.

To understand, and predict, Heliothis dynamics on cotton, along with changes in resistance levels, we must understand their dynamics on other hosts and the patterns of movement from these to cotton.

A very serious situation faces growers due to increasing insecticide resistance, the fall-off in development of new chemicals and the rising costs of insecticides from overseas.