Xinchao Cao

Caonong Herbal Health Food Business Department, Lin'an District, Hangzhou, 311300, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Medicinal Plant Research, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 3   
Received: 15 Mar., 2026    Accepted: 18 Apr., 2026    Published: 06 May, 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is an important medicinal and edible traditional Chinese medicinal resource. During artificial cultivation, substrate conditions directly affect plant growth, bioactive compound accumulation, and medicinal quality formation. This review systematically summarizes the types, characteristics, and application effects of different cultivation substrates, including sphagnum moss, bark, coconut coir, peanut shells, rice husks, perlite, ceramsite, and composite substrates. It focuses on their effects on seedling survival, plant vigor, root development, biomass accumulation, and dry matter distribution in D. officinale, and further discusses the regulatory effects of substrates on the formation of quality-related constituents, such as polysaccharides, dendrobine, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds. Studies have shown that suitable cultivation substrates can promote root growth and nutrient uptake by improving rhizosphere moisture, aeration, nutrient supply, and microbial environment, thereby increasing plant biomass and the accumulation of medicinally active compounds. Composite substrates have great application potential in high-quality and efficient cultivation of D. officinale because they integrate water retention, aeration, physical support, and nutrient buffering functions. However, current research still faces problems such as inconsistent substrate evaluation standards, insufficient elucidation of quality formation mechanisms, and weak integration between substrate formulations and industrial applications. Future studies should strengthen the development of environmentally friendly composite substrates, further investigate substrate-microbe-quality formation mechanisms, and integrate smart agricultural technologies to establish standardized, large-scale, and sustainable cultivation systems for D. officinale.

Dendrobium officinale; Cultivation substrate; Growth and development; Quality formation; Bioactive compounds; Composite substrate