To meet India's growing pulse demand, the productivity of pigeonpea hybrids must be enhanced through advanced agronomic practices tailored to optimize its potential in different soil types. Therefore, we conducted a field experiment combining planting methods, plant geometry and nutrient management strategy on hybrid pigeonpea (ICPH 2740) in black soil at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, during the 2021 and 2022 kharif seasons. The objective was to identify the best agronomic practices for yield optimization by examining growth parameters and yield components in relation to seed yield. The study evaluated 30 treatments using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis to assess substantial variation and relationships among 11 quantitative components. From the mean PCA scoring it was found that higher influential yield components were number of secondary branches plant-1 and number of pods plant-1 over other components. Higher positive scoring with respect to the number of secondary branches plant-1 (2.94) and seed yield (0.32) was recorded with transplanting in the combination of 100 × 100 cm and integrated nutrient approach. However, the number of pods plant-1 scoring (0.96) was higher with transplanting in combination with 120 × 120 cm and integrated nutrient management. Similarly, from the correlation studies it was found that seed yield was highly correlated with the number of secondary branches plant-1 and the number of pods plant-1 (0.96 and 0.86 respectively). Transplanting pigeonpea resulted in a 33.4% higher mean seed yield compared to dibbling. In terms of plant geometry, individual plant yield was highest at 120 × 120 cm spacing; however, on a per-hectare basis, 100 × 100 cm spacing achieved 23.6% higher mean seed yield than 120 × 120 cm. Under transplanting and wider geometry (100 × 100 cm), hybrid pigeonpea recorded a 38% higher seed yield when supplemented with 100% Soil TestBased (STB) NPK + vermicompost at 5 t ha-1 + phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) + Rhizobium seed treatment, compared to STB NPK alone. Ultimately, the combination of transplanting, 100 × 100 cm spacing and integrated nutrient management (100% STB NPK + vermicompost @ 5 t ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium seed treatment) proved optimal for yield enhancement and cost-benefit analysis. These findings were consistently supported by PCA and correlation analysis.
