We examined the effect of biofertilizers, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea fertilizer treatments on the growth, yield and economic benefits in maize production. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive seasons of 2022 with five treatments; Control without fertilizers (T1), biofertilizers only (T2), DAP + urea (T3), biofertilizers + DAP (T4), biofertilizers + DAP + Urea (T5) arranged in randomized complete block design. Three maize varieties UH5355, Longe 10H and Longe 5 were evaluated. Results indicate that, combined application of biofertilizers + DAP + urea (T5) produced significantly the highest plant height, leaf length, leaf width, stem girth, and grain yield. Among varieties, Longe 5 attained optimal growth compared to Longe 10H and UH5355 whereas Longe 10H attained the highest yield compared to UH5355 and Longe 5 under the treatment biofertilizers + DAP + urea (T5). Integrating biofertilizer with DAP and Urea (T5) produced optimum effect on maize growth and yield. However, the cost was relatively higher. Unlike the application of DAP + Urea, integrating biofertilizers reduces the overall costs of production while maintaining optimum yield. Therefore, it is recommended to adopt integrated application of biofertilizer with DAP and urea fertilizers to attain optimum yield of maize.

Keywords: Soil fertility, nutrient recycling, production costs, maize growth, yield, profitability