Collaboration is vital to the future of agricultural research, but only if it maintains current resources, according to Professor Sir James Armour, who was making his final address yesterday as chairman of the Edinburgh-based Moredun Foundation.

Stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Armour, a former dean of Glasgow University Veterinary School and vice-principal of Glasgow University, said: ''Moredun collaborates with others involved in animal bioscience throughout Scotland and the UK and has joint chairs at both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities. We recognise the value of these collaborations and the need to further strengthen them. Scotland punches above its weight in the field of animal bioscience and has so much to offer.''

The background to those remarks is that the operation of a wide range of agricultural institutes in Scotland is now under review by the Scottish Executive. Professor Armour fears that these organisations might become subsumed in the university network. ''My concern is that we get swallowed up by one of the big universities, given that we have successfully married basic and applied research.

He added: ''Universities tend to concentrate on basic research, all of which is regarded as good, but the same does not always hold true for applied work. Full incorporation within the university system would undoubtedly lead to a diminution of applied research and the concentration of resources on more basic work, on which the rating of university research is predominantly judged. That could have an effect on our funding.''