NOVELTY - Increasing a growth characteristic of a plant, increasing nutrient use efficiency of a plant, or improving a plant's ability to overcome stress, comprises applying a composition comprising ketosuccinamate, or its derivative or salt, to the plant or to a propagation material of the plant.    USE - The method is useful for increasing a growth characteristic of a plant, increasing nutrient use efficiency of a plant, or improving a plant's ability to overcome stress, where: the growth characteristic is biomass, foliar tissue weight, nodulation number, nodulation mass, nodulation activity, number of seed heads, number of tillers, number of flowers, number of tubers, tuber mass, bulb mass, oil content, number of seeds, total seed mass, average seed mass, rate of leaf emergence, root mass, total below ground tissue weight, harvestable fruit or nut yield, plant protein and starch content, rate of biomass accumulation, rate of tiller emergence, rate of tiller growth, average fruit weight, germination rate and/or seedling emergence rate; the increased nutrient use efficiency is increased protein content and/or increased amino acid content; the stress is biotic, abiotic stress, or chemical stress, or herbicidal stress; the biotic stress is due to insects, viruses, fungi, parasites, weeds, or animals; the abiotic stress is due to sun, wind, fire, flood, or thought; and the chemical stress is due to pesticide, fungicide, herbicide, anti-bacterial, or anti-viral compositions; and the plant is a mono-cotyledon plant or a dicotyledon plant, a grain, legume, fiber producing plant, oil producing plant, tuber producing plant, starch producing plant, grass, vine, fruit, vegetable, flowering plant, or tree, such as wheat, oat, rice, corn, bean, soybean, barley, cotton, canola, flax, legume, grape, berry, tomato, vine, orange, nut, tobacco, alfalfa, potato, peanut, or Arabidopsis (all claimed). The ability of the composition to improve seedling emergence rate was tested in alfalfa. The results showed that, after 3 days of planting, 79% plants treated with the composition comprised of 1mM ketosuccinamate exhibited seedling emergence, when compared to control plants in which only 58% plants exhibited seedling emergence.    ADVANTAGE - The method removes or minimizes ecological and cost disadvantages of industrial nitrogen supplementation for crops by maximizing plants' abilities to utilize available nitrogen, thus reducing the amount of supplementation required and is cost-effective and ecologically sound.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - a composition comprising: ketosuccinamate, or its derivative or salt; a carrier; and optionally, a plant growth stimulating compound