Nutrient deficiency in alkaline calcareous soils under arid and semi-arid climates limits productivity. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of biofertilizers in a growth promotion assay under controlled environment, followed by their testing under a nutrient-deficient field for two consecutive years. The field experiment evaluated three formulations named BF-1 (IA6), BF-2 (IA16) and BF-3 (IA6 + IA16) in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three blocks/replications under factorial settings. After 3 days of sowing at 30 +/- 1 degrees C, BF-3 showed 83.3% germination, while under cool germination at 18 +/- 1 degrees C, germination was 78.7%. However, the formulations showed non-significant differences at 30 +/- 1 degrees C. Similarly, under field conditions BF-3 caused significant improvements in plant height, number of sympodial branches plant-1, number of monopodial branches plant-1, boll weight, seed cotton yield, SPAD value, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, peroxidase (POD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and POX activity by 14%, 13%, 17%, 11%, 20%, 19%, 13%, 11%, 13% and 11%, respectively, compared with C1 (negative control) in first year. Similar results were also observed during the second year by BF-3. It is concluded that BF-3 can potentially enhance cotton productivity in nutrient-deficient soils; thus, it can help farmers in sustainable farming systems.