Advances in host plant resistance in cotton are described by showing selected data from better germplasm lines. Germplasm is available which is resistant to tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens Fab., pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), plant bugs, boll weevil Anthonomus grandis (Boheman), and root knot nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita Chitwood and Otifa. Germplasm resistant to these pests and techniques for evaluating segregating lines in a plant breeding program have been made available for use by companies to produce cultivars with resistance to these pests. The nectariless cultivars presently available to producers can be used to either control or reduce the severity of plant bugs and pink bollworm. Data from F₁ hybrids indicates that resistance to tobacco budworm and root knot nematodes are expressed in the F₁ from crosses of presently available germplasm with cultivars.