【【Objective】Hemerocallis citrina Baroni, an important cash crop in China, has become a pillar industry in Yunzhou District, Datong City, Shanxi Province. Plant growth retardants could effectively delay the flowering period of H. citrina and regulate its growth and development. However, the effect of plant growth retardants on soil microbiota remains unexplored. Thus, this study aimed to clarify the impact of plant growth retardants on soil microbial community structure. 【Method】 This study was conducted in 2023 in Datong City, Shanxi Province. Plant growth retardants uniconazole (S3307) and paclobutrazol (PP333) were sprayed on H. citrina with three treatments: uniconazole 500 mg L-1 and paclobutrazol 500 mg L-1, water was used as the control, and each treatment was repeated three times. The rhizosphere soil was collected from each plot at the full bud stage, and the fine roots, plant residues, stones, and other debris were removed through a 10-mesh sieve. Then the response of the rhizosphere bacterial community to plant growth retardants was analyzed using 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS ) amplicon sequencing technology. 【Result】The results showed that paclobutrazol and uniconazole treatments had no significant effect on the Shannon index and Chao 1 index of the rhizosphere microbial community. However, both treatments increased the total operational taxonomic units (OTUs ) and unique OTUs of the rhizosphere soil bacteria. At the phylum level, paclobutrazol treatment increased the relative abundance of beneficial microorganisms such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Ascomycota. Under the genus level classification, the relative abundance of Fusarium in soil after paclobutrazol treatment was significantly increased by 9.68%, whereas uniconazole treatment increased the relative abundance of Cyathus by 25.13% compared with the control. 【Conclusion】 Plant growth retardant treatments have the potential to improve the richness and diversity of rhizosphere bacterial communities as well as change the population structure of soil microorganisms in the rhizosphere of H. citrina.