Oct 16, 2024
Soil Health – Liebig’s Law of the Minimum
Justus von Liebig was a 19th century German scientist (1803-1873) who is regarded as one of founders of organic chemistry. He is also commonly considered as the “father of agricultural chemistry and the fertilizer industry.”
Liebig developed several important analytical methods used in a broad range of applications as well as many other important contributions and developments. Liebig was one of the great chemistry teachers of the 19th century that served as a foundation for the robust German chemical industry of the 20thand 21st centuries.
In 1840 Justus von Liebig presented a concept that is known as the “Law of the Minimum”, which was built upon a theory that had first been developed by Carl Sprengel, a German botanist (1787-1859). The Law of the Minimum basically states that a plant’s rate and extent of growth and overall health is dependent on the amount of the scarcest of the essential nutrients that are available to the plant (Figure 1; Liebig, 1840 and van der Ploeg et al., 1999).
The Law of the Minimum has been further applied into a general model of all organisms and biological functions, including the limiting effects of other environmental factors i.e., sunlight and water in terrestrial ecosystems, as well as excesses of nutrients and other environmental factors (Bruuselma and Nigon, 2023; Davidson, 2016; and Mosaic, 2023).
An important way to consider the Law of the Minimum is that the growth of plants, or crops, is not dependent on the total amount of nutrients available, but rather by the scarcest nutrient or resource (i.e., water). This is particularly important in relation to nutrients such as nitrogen, which is the nutrient required in largest amounts by plants, and it is the most common limiting plant nutrient. In desert agriculture, water is commonly the first most common limiting factor in plant growth and development, closely followed by bio-available nitrogen.
The Law of the Minimum is important to understand in managing fertilizer and other agronomic inputs to a crop. This has been demonstrated when fertilizer prices are high, particularly for nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, and growers may be inclined to reduce or eliminate fertilizer applications.
Liebig’s Law of the Minimum is most applicable for nutrients and plant growth factors that are mobile in the soil. This is particularly relevant for nitrogen, which is available to plants in the nitrate form (NO3--N), which is mobile in the soil. Thus, (NO3--N) moves with soil-water.
Accordingly, the Liebig Law of the Minimum also pertains to water in a soil-plant system. Other growth factors or nutrients will not compensate for a deficiency in a given nutrient or plant growth factor. Plant-available nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N) or water are good examples, there are no substitutes.
The Liebig Law of the Minimum is an important concept in soil fertility and plant nutrition and overall agronomic crop management in an irrigated production system.
Figure 1. Graphic illustration of the Law of the Minimum with shortest stave in
the barrel representing the most limiting nutrient in the soil-plant system.
References:
Bruulsema, T, and Nigon, L.L. Crops & Soils Magazine, November–December 2023 American Society of Agronomy. pp. 54-59.
Davidson, D. 2016. Nutrient Management Magazine.https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/5648-no-till-notes-how-to-plan-your-summer-fertility-program?v=preview
Liebig, J. 1840. Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agri- Sprengel, C. 1831. Chemie fu¨ r Landwirthe, Forstma¨nner und Cameralisten (Chemistry for agronomists, foresters, and agricultural econo-cultur und Physiologie (Organic chemistry in its applications to agri-culture and physiology). Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn Publ. Co., mists). Volume 1. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht Publ. Co., Go¨ ttingen, Germany. Braunschweig, Germany.
Mosaic. 2023. How Law of the Minimum Impacts Crops' Nutrient Use. In: No-Till Farmer. https://www.notillfarmer.com/articles/12637-how-law-of-the-minimum-impacts-crops-nutrient-use
Vander Ploeg, A.R; Böhm, W.; and M. B. Kirkham. 1999. On the Origin of the Theory of Mineral Nutrition of Plants and the Law of the Minimum. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63:1055–1062.