A study in India looked at how growing pigeonpea affects the growth of maize that follows it. They found that planting pigeonpea alone increased maize yield by 57% compared to leaving the field empty. However, when pigeonpea was grown with sorghum, the effect on maize yield was not as strong. Maize following pigeonpea needed less nitrogen fertilizer to achieve similar yields compared to maize following other crops or fallow land. Intercropping pigeonpea with sorghum produced the highest grain and dry matter yields in the first year, but the yield of pigeonpea itself was lower when intercropped.