Edaphology (from Greek, edaphos, "ground") is one of two main divisions of soil science, the other being pedology. Edaphology is concerned with the influence of soils on living things, particularly plants. The term is also applied to the study of how soil influences humankind's use of land for plant growth as well as man's overall use of the land. General subfields within edaphology are agricultural soil science (known by the term agrology in some regions) and environmental soil science. (Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification.)
In Russia, edaphology is considered equivalent to pedology, but is recognized to have an applied sense consistent with agrophysics and agrochemistry outside Russia. Xenophon (431–355 BC), and Cato (234–149 BC), were early edaphologists. Xenophon noted the beneficial effect of turning a cover crop into the earth. Cato wrote De Agri Cultura ("On Farming") which recommended tillage, crop rotation and the use of legumes in the rotation to build soil nitrogen. He also devised the first soil capability classification for specific crops.

License information: CC BY-SA 3.0
MPAA: G
Go to source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaphology