Lianggeng  Hu ^1,2

1 Yiwu Yutian Family Farm,Yiwu, 312000,Zhejiang, China
2 Zhejiang Agronomist College,Hangzhou, 310021, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Medicinal Plant Research, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 4   
Received: 24 May, 2026    Accepted: 01 Jun., 2026    Published: 14 Jul., 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.

This review evaluates the effects of water and fertilizer management on fruit yield and quality formation in Rubus chingii Hu, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for high-quality cultivation and industrial production of R. chingii. As an important medicinal and edible plant resource, R. chingii fruits contain abundant flavonoids, phenolic compounds, terpenoids, ellagic acid, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, and other bioactive constituents, exhibiting high medicinal value and development potential. However, current production still faces challenges including unstable yield, significant variation in fruit quality, and inconsistent accumulation of medicinal active compounds. This study systematically analyzed the effects of water supply, nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium nutrient management, and water-fertilizer coupling regulation on plant growth, fruit yield formation, fruit quality characteristics, and bioactive compound accumulation in R. chingii. Evidence from R. chingii and related fruit crops suggests that enhanced photosynthetic capacity and water-use efficiency, and provided sufficient material resources for fruit development. Balanced nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium application optimized plant nutritional status, promoted biomass accumulation, and improved fruit-setting capacity and yield performance. Integrated water-fertilizer regulation coordinated yield and quality improvement by regulating carbon assimilation, nutrient uptake and transport, and secondary metabolic pathways. Meanwhile, water and fertilizer conditions played important roles in regulating fruit appearance quality, sugar-acid composition, nutritional quality, and the accumulation of medicinal active compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic compounds. Current research on R. chingii water-fertilizer management still faces limitations, including insufficient understanding of water and nutrient requirements at different growth stages, incomplete technical systems and production standards, and limited knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the coordinated improvement of yield and quality. Future studies should integrate cultivar characteristics, growth stages, and environmental conditions to establish precision water-fertilizer regulation models, promote integrated water-fertilizer technologies and smart agriculture approaches, and achieve coordinated improvements in yield, quality, and resource-use efficiency, thereby supporting standardized cultivation and sustainable industrial development of R. chingii.

Rubus chingii; Water and fertilizer management; Fruit yield; Quality formation; Precision regulation