2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a Specific Cooperative Agreement between Kansas State University and ARS. Additional details for this subordinate project may be found in the the inhouse project 6402-22000-047-00D entitled, "Resistance Management and Injury Potential of Lepidopterous Pests to Transgenic Cottons." A technique was developed to differentiate morphologically similar immature stages of noctuid species, i.e. Heliothis virescens and Helicoverpa zea. The technique used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to distinguish the two species at the egg stage and less than 3rd instar larval stage with 95% accuracy. The NIRS technique could be an important tool for laboratory research of these pests.