Abstract
The total water-soluble polysaccharide (TP) of Dendrobium catenatum is composed of starch and active non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) with glucomannan as the main structural type. Although the TP content has been used as a quality assessment indicator for many years, the NSPs content in samples from different environments and growth seasons have not been reported. In this study, we found that NSPs had stronger antioxidant activity than TP. The NSPs content was higher in wild-simulated environments including rocks and trees compared to plantings grown in greenhouse. The culture mode and growth period affected the ratio of NSPs and starch. Facility cultivation provided optimal growth conditions but produced more starch, whereas wild-simulated cultivation resulted in a higher ratio of NSPs, particularly in September. Therefore, cultivation by lithophytation and epiphytation may be preferable to facility plantings, which is expected to be enormously useful for the current production and quality control of D. catenatum.