This study explores the role of f(R, T) gravity in modeling massive pulsars, with particular attention to potential contributions from dark matter effects. We consider a static, spherically symmetric spacetime and derive the modified Einstein field equations for the specific functional form \( f(R, T) = R + 2\xi T \) , where \( \xi \) denotes the matter-geometry coupling constant. The matter distribution is modeled using a modified Chaplygin equation of state (EoS) to relate the energy density and radial pressure. To observe the physical relevance and viability of the model, two well-known pulsars: \(PSR~J0348+0432\) and \(PSR ~J0030+0451\) are used. Our analysis demonstrates that for coupling values \(\xi \) = \(-\) 0.1, \(-\) 0.2, \(-\) 0.3, the central densities range from \(3.43\times 10^{15}\,\textrm{g}~\textrm{cm}^{-3}\) to \(3.98\times 10^{15}\,\textrm{g}~\textrm{cm}^{-3}\) , while the surface densities remain near \(1.98\times 10^{15}\,\textrm{g}~\textrm{cm}^{-3}\) . The central pressure \(p_{r}(0)\sim 3.5\times 10^{34} \,\textrm{dyne}~\textrm{cm}^{-2}\) ensures a regular and causal behavior throughout the configuration. We further examine the energy conditions, compactness factor, Harrison–Zeldovich–Novikov stability criterion, adiabatic index, and gravitational redshift. The results suggest that the proposed f(R, T) gravity model provides a viable framework for describing ultra-dense pulsars under the influence of modified gravity effects.
