Hi Stephen,

This is an interesting and tricky question. When we consider the net energy contribution of amino acids vs nitrate, the amino acids contribute about 6x more energy to the plant.

In our experience, while there is some variability among different crops, we generally expect that a unit of amino acid or amino sugar N can replace at 4-5 units of nitrate N.

However, there are lots of other factors to consider, like how rapidly the amino acid N is nitrified to nitrate, and whether soil biology is of the type that will speed up or suppress that process.