Abstract:[Background] Continuous cropping is a common phenomenon in agricultural production. Continuous cropping causes an imbalance of micronutrients and disturbs the microbial community structure in the rhizosphere soil of plants. Accordingly, plants are susceptible to pests and diseases. [Objective] To expose the variation trends and drivers of distinct biological communities in the rhizosphere soil of Panax notoginseng during continuous cropping and the occurrence of root rot. [Methods] We compared the bacterial, fungal, and protist communities in the rhizosphere soil samples of healthy and diseased P.notoginseng growing for different years and the relationships between soil microbial communities with soil factors. [Results] The soil samples presented pH<7.0, with the content of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) exceeding the standard limits. Cadmium was significantly enriched in the soil samples of 3-year-old P.notoginseng. The results of α-diversity analysis showed that the disease of 2-year-old P.notoginseng significantly reduced the diversity of bacteria and fungi, and the disease of 1- and 3-year-old P.notoginseng significantly reduced the diversity of protist. The principal coordinate analysis showed that the β-diversity of bacterial, fungal, and protist communities in the rhizosphere soil of P.notoginseng exhibited significant differences before and after the infection with root rot, with the fungal community showing the most apparent differences. In the protist community, consumers were richer than parasites and phototrophs in the soil samples. The analysis of variance showed a considerable decrease in the abundance of consumers in the soil samples of diseased 3-year-old P.notoginseng. The co-occurrence network of fungal pathogens with bacteria and protist showed more interspecific associations between fungal pathogens and protist, with consumers being dominant in the protist community. The correlation analysis showed that available potassium had larger effects on bacteria and fungi. Cd, had more significant effects than As on the bacterial, fungal, and protist communities. [Conclusion] The differences in bacterial, fungal, and protist communities in rhizosphere soil and the interactions between microorganisms and physicochemical properties of soil result in the occurrence of root rot in the field with continuous cropping of P.notoginseng.