A study in northwest China looked at growing wheat and maize together with alternating irrigation. They found that intercropping wheat and maize increased land use efficiency and grain yield compared to growing them separately. Intercropping also used water more effectively, improving water use efficiency by up to 57.7% for wheat and 71.4% for maize. This suggests that alternating irrigation can be a helpful way to save water when growing wheat and maize together in dry areas with limited water.