Research advances on breeding of pharmaceutical Dendrobium in China

Dendrobium is a kind of traditional and precious Chinese medicinal material, which has the functions of nourishing stomach, nourishing yin and clearing heat, moistening lung and relieving cough, strengthening body, enhancing immunity, anti-tumor and anti-aging. It is widely used in the fields of medicine, health food, daily food and cosmetics. In view of the high medical and economic value of medicinal Dendrobium, breeding, tissue culture and cultivation techniques have developed rapidly. In this paper, the present situation of collection, conservation and evaluation of medicinal Dendrobium resources in China in recent ten years was introduced from the aspects of investigation of germplasm diversity, collection, conservation and evaluation, cross breeding, mutation breeding, ploidy breeding and genetic engineering breeding. The results of breeding and the progress of using modern biotechnology in breeding are summarized. It is suggested that the research and development of quality control standards for medicinal Dendrobium should be strengthened in the future, the collection and preservation of resources, germplasm bank building, and the full utilization of the advantages of traditional breeding and modern biotechnology in the research of medicinal Dendrobium breeding.