Clusterbean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] is an important drought-tolerant legume crop widely cultivated in the arid and semi-arid regions of India, particularly Rajasthan. Effective weed management is essential for enhancing its productivity under rainfed conditions. A field experiment entitled “Optimization of Integrated Weed Management Practices for Sustainable Production of Clusterbean in Arid Regions” was conducted during Kharif 2025 at the Research Farm, Department of Agriculture, Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur, Rajasthan. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with sixteen weed management treatments replicated thrice. Treatments comprised pre-emergence application of pendimethalin, post-emergence application of imazethapyr and imazethapyr + imazamox at different doses, either alone or integrated with hand weeding, along with weedy check and weed-free treatments. Results revealed that weed management practices significantly improved crop growth, yield attributes, and yield over the weedy check. The weed-free treatment recorded the highest plant height (115.1 cm), dry matter accumulation (170.6 g m⁻¹ row length), pods plant⁻¹ (40.3), seeds pod⁻¹ (3.73), seed yield (1486 kg ha⁻¹), straw yield (4141 kg ha⁻¹), and biological yield (5626 kg ha⁻¹). Among herbicidal treatments, pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg ha⁻¹ alone or integrated with one hand weeding at 30 DAS performed comparably to the weed-free treatment. Weed infestation substantially reduced growth and yield, with the weedy check producing only 767 kg ha⁻¹ seed yield. The study concluded that integrated weed management involving pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg ha⁻¹, either alone or combined with hand weeding, is an effective and sustainable strategy for improving clusterbean productivity in arid regions.

Keywords: Clusterbean, integrated weed management, pendimethalin, imazethapyr, imazamox, hand weeding.