Carboxyl groups have an electronegative oxygen atom double bonded to a carbon atom. This carbon-oxygen bond is very polar and the fact that its a double bond increases the polarity of the bond.
PEA agar, also referred to as Phenylethyl Alcohol Agar is a medium  used by microbiologists to grow microorganisms. The ingredient that  supplies nitrogen is casein. Making the world better, one answer at a time.
Nitrogen is so vital because it is a major component of chlorophyll, the compound by which plants use sunlight energy to produce sugars from water and carbon dioxide (i.e., photosynthesis). It is also a major component of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Without proteins, plants wither and die.