Bioscience Evidence 2026, Vol.16, No.4, 304-315 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 308 findings indicate that substrates not only provide physical support and growth conditions but also influence medicinal quality formation through changes in the root-zone environment. The effects of substrates should be evaluated together with cultivation systems. Hou et al. (2025) compared metabolic differences of D. officinale grown under tree epiphytic, rock epiphytic, and greenhouse cultivation conditions and found significant metabolic variation among different growth environments. Some flavonoid metabolites showed higher accumulation under rock epiphytic conditions. These results suggest that high-quality production cannot simply rely on selecting a single optimal artificial substrate. Instead, suitable root-zone environments should be designed according to the ecological characteristics of D. officinale. 3.4 Water and fertilizer management In natural environments, nutrient availability for D. officinale is relatively limited. Therefore, its production does not require high-input and excessive fertilization systems but should adopt moderate nutrient supply according to different growth stages. Appropriate water and fertilizer management can promote photosynthesis, stem development, and active compound accumulation, whereas excessive fertilization may stimulate vegetative growth while reducing medicinal quality. Jia et al. (2022) investigated the interaction between light conditions and potassium fertilizer on quality formation of D. officinale and found that suitable light combined with potassium application increased anthocyanin content and promoted flavonoid-related metabolic processes (Figure 1). Mineral nutrients not only regulate plant growth but also participate in the formation of quality-related compounds. Yin et al. (2026) studied the effects of coordinated carbon and nitrogen supply on D. officinale growth and quality and found that appropriate carbon–nitrogen combinations improved photosynthetic performance and increased soluble sugar and nutrient accumulation. However, excessive nitrogen supply reduced photosynthetic efficiency. These findings indicate that nutrient management in D. officinale should focus on balance rather than simply increasing fertilizer input. Figure 1 The changes in phenotype and anthocyanin content of D. officinale post light- or K-treatment. (A) The pseudobulbs (P) under natural light were used as the control, light-treated pseudobulbs (PL) were treated with red and blue light in 5:1, and K-treated pseudobulbs (PK) were treated with 3 mM KCl. (B) The phenotype of D. officinale pseudobulbs. (C) Anthocyanin extracted from pseudobulb of D. officinale. (D) The content of anthocyanins in D. officinale pseudobulbs post light- or K-treatment. The different letters represent significant difference at p< 0.05 (Adopted from Jia et al., 2022)
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