Bioscience Evidence 2026, Vol.16, No.4, 304-315 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 304 Research Insight Open Access Environmental Regulation Affecting Growth and Quality of Dendrobium officinale Guangman Xu , Jiayi Wu Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding email: guangman.xu@cuixi.org Bioscience Evidence, 2026, Vol.16, No.4 doi: 10.5376/be.2026.16.0023 Received: 09 Jul., 2026 Accepted: 10 Aug., 2026 Published: 20 Aug., 2026 Copyright © 2026 Xu and Wu, 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. Preferred citation for this article: Xu G.M., and Wu J.Y., 2026, Environmental regulation affecting growth and quality of Dendrobium officinale, Bioscience Evidence, 16(4): 304-315 (doi: 10.5376/be.2026.16.0023) Abstract Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is a valuable medicinal orchid, and its medicinal properties and industrial applications mainly depend on stem yield and the accumulation of bioactive compounds, including polysaccharides, flavonoids, and alkaloids. However, with the rapid expansion of artificial cultivation, several challenges have emerged, such as unstable quality, poor environmental adaptability, and incomplete quality evaluation systems. Environmental conditions play an important role in regulating the growth and quality formation of D. officinale, affecting plant morphology, photosynthetic processes, biomass accumulation, and the biosynthesis of active compounds. This review summarizes the main growth and quality evaluation indicators of D. officinale and focuses on the effects of environmental factors, including light conditions, temperature and humidity, cultivation substrates, and water and fertilizer management, on plant growth and medicinal quality formation. In addition, typical cases involving local germplasm utilization, different cultivation systems, regional variation, and quality evaluation are discussed to clarify the role of environmental regulation in improving cultivar adaptation, enhancing active compound accumulation, and maintaining stable medicinal quality. Based on these findings, future development directions are proposed, including standardized environmental control, multidimensional quality evaluation systems, and intelligent cultivation technologies. This review summarizes the key environmental factors affecting high-quality production of D. officinale and provides theoretical support and practical references for its standardized, precise, and sustainable cultivation. Keywords Dendrobium officinale; Environmental regulation; Quality formation; Medicinal compounds; Precision cultivation 1 Introduction Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is an important medicinal and edible orchid species and one of the traditional Dendrobium sources listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Its dried stems have long been used in traditional applications for nourishing the stomach, promoting body fluid production, and clearing internal heat. They are also important raw materials for the development of functional foods and health products. D. officinale contains various bioactive compounds, including polysaccharides, flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, and bibenzyl derivatives. These compounds form the basis of its medicinal and nutritional value and support its applications in pharmaceuticals, health foods, and related industries (Chen et al., 2021a; Xu et al., 2022). Due to overexploitation of wild resources, limited natural reproduction capacity, and changes in ecological environments, D. officinale production has gradually shifted from traditional wild harvesting to artificial propagation and large-scale cultivation. In recent years, advances in tissue culture, facility cultivation, and ecological planting technologies have greatly improved production capacity and promoted the industrial development of D. officinale (Cheng et al., 2019). Current quality evaluation of medicinal materials mainly relies on indicators such as polysaccharide content, moisture content, ash content, ethanol-soluble extract content, and the mannose/glucose ratio, among which polysaccharide content is the most commonly used quality indicator. However, the quality formation of D. officinale is not determined by a single compound. Its functional properties are associated with the combined effects of polysaccharides, flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, and other secondary metabolites. Differences in geographical origin, cultivation methods, growth years, and plant tissues can result in significant variation in chemical composition. Therefore, polysaccharide content alone cannot fully reflect the quality
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