Figure 1. Experimental design.

The experiment consisted of three homogeneous treatments (High light – the plants received full light in the greenhouse, coded as “H”; Medium light – the plants received 65% of full light, coded as “M”; Low light – the plants received 30% of full light, coded as “L”) and two heterogeneous treatments (Large patch, coded as “HL_L” – the whole container was divided into two large patches; one patch received full light and the other 30% of full light; Small patch, coded as “HL_S” – the whole container was divided into four small patches; two patches received full light and the other two 30% of full light), fully crossed with two treatments of competition (No competition – one plant per container; With competition – nine plants per container). The light received by the plants in the two patchy treatments was the same as that in the homogeneous medium light treatment.