Damage caused by the cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armygera HÜBNER) was first observed in the southern part of Bács-Kiskun County in 1994. This observation was made in Bácsalmás, in a sunflower field of 150 ha was used for hybrid seed multiplication. Several insecticide applications were necessary to effectively control the pest. In 1995, this type of protection had to be applied in a field of 1200 ha in Bácsalmás. In the southern part of Hungary, this insect is present in high numbers every year. Protection of sunflower seed fields would not be possible without the integrated protection technologies developed against this insect. En masse occurrence of the species was examined in the regions of Kecskemét and Bácsalmás towns, in commercial sunflower fields. According to our large-scale investigation, 322 sunflower heads of the 500 examined (64.4%) were found to be infected on 3 August 2003. The level of infection was as high as 418 heads (83.6%) in the Bácsalmás region. Concerning the number of larvae found per single head, the situation was similar. The average numbers of larvae found per single sunflower head were 5.22 and 8.09 in the regions of Kecskemét and Bácsalmás, respectively. Simultaneously, Rhizopus spp. fungi infections were found in 22.2% and 27.8% of the sunflower heads in Kecskemét and in Bácsalmás, respectively. Parasitoid ichneumons (ectoparasites) were observed in 9 and 7.4% of the larvae. The extent of damage due to cannibalism was 1-2% of larvae. This rate was not considered as significant. The study provides important technical information for the integrated protection against this insect species, which causes significant damage.