In 2004, Helicoverpa armigera resistance management was a high priority issue for both conventional insecticides and transgenic Bt technology(Bollgard 11). Over wintering pupae busting represents one of the most vulnerable stages in the life cycle of the H.armigera, and management efforts have been directed at reducing survival of this stage through the use of 'pupae busting', or full surface disturbance by cultivation to a depth of 10cm. Pupae busting was mandatory for Bollgard II crops and recommended for conventiaonl (non Bt transgenic) crops.

Industry compliance with pupae busting compliance is generally considered high. Pupae busting is associated with some disadvantages, including loss of soil moisture through cultivation, the potential lost opportunity to double crop, alterations to soil structure under wet conditions and its adverse impacts on machinery under dry conditions.

Under some circumstances, there may be few or even no over wintering pupae under cotton crops and growers seriously question the need to pupae bust under these circumstances. One of the problems facing growers is the difficulty of accurately sampling for pupae. Labour intensive soil sampling operations are the most common. There is an identified need for improved pupae detection/sampling methods.

Following the highly successful use of detection dogs for locating organochlorine residues, the idea was promoted that dogs could be trained to locate pupae in fields. this was successfully demonstrated DAQ125C. the next study is to imprint, train and calibrate a pupae detection dog against known field densities of pupae and develop its capacity for field application.