the law of minimum was developed by von liebig in the 19th century.
an organism(micro organism, plant or animal) is simultaneously subjected to the influence of various factors( such as humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure, oxygen concentration etc.....). but some of these factors affects the organism more than any other factors.
von liebig developed the concept of law of minimum by evaluating the role of these factors.
the law of minimum states that "an organism requires a minimum quantity of a particular nutrient for proper growth"
for example: a plant will not grow well if the soil is deficient in on of the essential nutritive component of the soil, even if all the other components of soil are present in a healthy concentration. but if the plant is provided the deficient nutrition to the plant in healthy concentrations, the other components of the soil becomes active and the plant is now able to utilise those nutrients and grows well.
liebig is commonly known as father of fertiliser science