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. 5   
Received: 03 Jul., 2026    Accepted: 16 Aug., 2026    Published: 05 Sep., 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 is an important medicinal and edible plant, and polysaccharides are its major bioactive constituents and key indicators for evaluating medicinal quality. Their formation and accumulation are jointly influenced by multiple factors, including genetic background, developmental stage, and cultivation environment. This study systematically analyzes the effects of controlled-environment regulation on polysaccharide accumulation in D. officinale and the underlying mechanisms, with particular emphasis on the regulatory roles of light, temperature, water, air humidity, mineral nutrition, cultivation substrates, and the rhizosphere microenvironment. The analysis indicates that appropriate light intensity and light quality, suitable day-night temperature differences, and coordinated water and fertilizer supply can improve photosynthetic carbon assimilation, increase the supply of sugar precursors, and promote polysaccharide accumulation by regulating sucrose metabolism, sugar transport, and the expression of polysaccharide biosynthesis-related enzymes and genes. Moderate environmental stresses, such as drought, low temperature, and nutrient limitation, can also enhance soluble sugar and polysaccharide accumulation through stress responses and carbon reallocation, whereas excessive stress suppresses plant growth and photosynthesis. Meanwhile, substrate physicochemical properties, rhizosphere water–air conditions, and beneficial microorganisms can indirectly regulate polysaccharide formation by affecting root vigor, nutrient uptake, and source–sink relationships. Polysaccharide accumulation in D. officinale is therefore the integrated outcome of photosynthetic carbon supply, sugar metabolic conversion, source-sink transport, environmental stress responses, and aboveground–belowground environmental interactions. Future studies should further clarify the optimal thresholds and interaction patterns of multiple environmental factors, establish precise controlled-environment regulation systems that balance biomass production and polysaccharide quality, and integrate environmental monitoring, quality prediction, and intelligent control technologies to achieve high-quality, efficient, and standardized production of D. officinale.

Dendrobium officinale; Polysaccharide accumulation; Controlled-environment regulation; Sugar metabolism; Carbon allocation