Effect of land configuration and herbicides on weed management in early maturing pigeonpea

A field experiment was conducted in the Kharif season of 2024 at Kota, Rajasthan with an objective to evaluate suitable land configuration and herbicidal weed management practices to effectively and economically manage weeds and achieve higher grain yield and net returns in early maturing pigeonpea cultivation. Among the land configurations, the raised bed land configuration with straw mulch was highly effective in suppressing weed emergence, reducing weed biomass, improving weed control efficiency (54%) and attaining higher pigeonpea growth and yield. The raised bed with straw mulch recorded the higher number of pods/plant, seeds per pod, seed yield and stover yield when compared to flatbed and raised bed methods. Among the herbicidal treatments, the post-emergence application (PoE) of propaquizafop-ethyl 2.5% + imazethapyr 3.75% ME (propaquizafop-ethyl + imazethapyr) (ready-mix) 125 g/ha at 20 days after seeding (DAS) recorded lowest weed density, weed biomass, nutrient (NPK) depletion by weeds and higher pigeonpea seed yield due to effective weed management than control and pendimethalin + imazethapyr. The next best treatment was pre-emergence application (PE) of pendimethalin 30% EC + imazethapyr 2% EC (pendimethalin + imazethapyr) (ready-mix) 800 g/ha. The integration of raised bed with straw mulch and propaquizafop-ethyl + imazethapyr (ready-mix) 125 g/ha PoE at 20 DAS significantly reduced weed-crop competition and nutrient loss due to weeds and enhanced early maturing pigeonpea productivity.