Objective To utilize agricultural wastes such as chili pepper, mugwort, and strawberry as raw materials for preparing agricultural plant Jiaosu, and to explore their effects on improving the comprehensive quality of substrate-cultivated tomatoes. The study aims to screen effective Jiaosu types for quality improvement and provide a theoretical basis for the green and efficient cultivation of tomatoes.

Method The experiment prepared seven types of plant Jiaosu from different raw materials, with a water treatment serving as the control. The yield, fruit traits, nutritional quality, texture characteristics, and antioxidant indicators of tomatoes under each treatment were determined. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) combined with the membership function method was employed to comprehensively evaluate the fruit quality.

Result Different agricultural plant Jiaosu treatments showed varying effects on the comprehensive quality of substrate-cultivated tomatoes. The chili pepper Jiaosu treatment significantly increased single fruit weight, fruit longitudinal and transverse diameters, hardness, and chewiness of tomato fruit, while also significantly enhancing peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activities. The mugwort Jiaosu treatment significantly improved soluble sugar content, springiness, and cohesiveness. Comprehensive evaluation results indicated that, with the exception of the strawberry Jiaosu treatment, all other Jiaosu treatments improved the comprehensive quality of tomatoes. The chili pepper Jiaosu treatment exhibited the best effect, followed by the mugwort Jiaosu treatment.

Conclusion Chili pepper and mugwort Jiaosu can significantly improve the comprehensive quality of substrate-cultivated tomatoes and serve as effective regulation methods for achieving high-quality tomato cultivation.