*2.1. Site Description*

The experiment was conducted in a paddy field (31◦24.434 N and 119◦41.605 E), where atmospheric fallout and effluent discharges from a local Pb smelter have contaminated the site since at least the 1970s. Cadmium and Pb are the primary metal contaminants in this area. The paddy soil was characterized as a Ferric-accumulic Stagnic Anthrosol [24].
