As a core ecological factor in the root zone of plants, rhizosphere microorganisms’ community structure and functional diversity directly affect medicinal plants’ nutrient utilization, stress response, and secondary metabolite synthesis. Systematically elucidating the mechanisms by which rhizosphere microorganisms regulate medicinal plant quality is of great significance for developing ecological cultivation techniques based on microecological regulation and stabilizing the genuine characteristics of medicinal herbs. This paper systematically reviews the core mechanisms by which rhizosphere microorganisms influence medicinal plant quality through improving nutrient absorption, regulating endogenous hormone balance, inducing systemic resistance (ISR), and directly participating in the synthesis of active compounds. It also summarizes application strategies such as rhizosphere microecological regulation mediated by root exudates, microbial inoculant improvement, and construction of synthetic microbial communities, while analyzing practical bottlenecks such as unstable field colonization of functional microbial inoculants and competition with native microorganisms, aiming to provide a theoretical reference for the rhizosphere microecology of medicinal plants and the green production of authentic medicinal herbs.

medicinal plants  /  rhizosphere microorganisms  /  root exudates  /  microbial inoculants  /  synthetic communities