This department started its activity with the soil fertility plan to recognize the nutritional requirements of crops and orchards and improve soil fertility in 1957. These activities have evolved from a general recommendation of chemical fertilizers for agricultural products to a regional recommendation and a fertilizer recommendation for each farm based on soil testing.
  The activities of the department in the form of the paradigm of sustainable development were redefined with the approach of integrated management of soil fertility and plant nutrition with the emergence of environmental crises and new economic and social challenges.
In this regard, the following main axes are included in the research program of the department:

1. Monitoring of soil fertility and nutritional status of crops, orchards and greenhouses.
2. Generalizing of soil testing.
3. Increasing the organic matter of the country's soils.
4. Soil fertility management in conservation agriculture systems in the conditions of Iran.
5. Managing soil fertility and plant nutrition in confronting with biotic and abiotic stresses.
6. Fertilizer use efficiency and optimizing of nutrition management of crops, orchards and greenhouses .
7. Managing soil fertility and plant nutrition with the aim of producing a healthy product, enrichment and preservation of the environment.

  Currently, research is underway in the following fields with the aim of improving soil fertility and productivity, increasing yield, improving the quality of agricultural products and community health.

1. Identifying of soil fertility and nutritional status of crops, orchards and greenhouses.
2. Completion of long-term Databases of factors affecting soil fertility.
3. Completion of the soil testing program in assessing the status of nitrogen, boron, sulfur, molybdenum, silicon, available calcium and magnesium in soil.
4. Technical and economic evaluation of integrated management of soil fertility (Simultaneous application of chemical, organic and biological fertilizers) in different cropping systems.
5. Evaluating the use of plant growth stimulants in improving plant nutrition management, fertilizer efficiency and confronting with environmental stresses.
6. Understanding the status and investigating the dynamics of soil organic carbon.
7. Application of organic materials and implementing of optimal crop management with the aim of increasing the capacity of organic carbon sequestration in agricultural soils.
8. Identifying and presenting suitable nutritional methods for crop production in soil-free beds farming and greenhouses.
9. Managing soil fertility in conservation agriculture.
10. Health risk assessment of agricultural products due to the use of fertilizers and organic agriculture.