Abstract: Tomato ‘Yongmei No.1’ and ‘Yanfen 518’ were used as test varieties.Substrate+nutrient solution cultivation method was carried out.After two years of repeated experiments, the effects of vermiculite, sand, perlite, cottonseed skin+nutrient solution cultivation on tomato growth indexes, yield and quality related indexes and root growth were studied, in order to provide reference for the screening of the inorganic matrix suitabled for tomato growth.The results showed that the growth, yield, quality and root growth of tomato cultivated with vermiculite+nutrient solution were the best.In the whole growth period of tomato, the plant height and stem diameter in vermiculite cultivation were increased by more than 8% and 50% respectively compared with perlite cultivation; the single fruit weight and yield per 667 m~2 increased by more than 5.8% and 9.2% respectively.Root volume, underground fresh weight, root dry weight and root activity of per plant were the maximum, which increased by 51.0%,45.5%,157.4% and 80.0% respectively.The results of fruit quality test showed that vermiculite compared with cottonseed peel and perlite, the nitrate of ‘Yongmei 1’ decreased by 29.0% and 12.1% respectively; the vitamin C content increased by more than 10% compared with perlite, both the total soluble sugar and soluble solids increased.Moreover, root volume, underground fresh weight, and whole plant root activity were strongly correlated with yield per 667 m~2,the correlation coefficients was 0.87,0.84,and 0.66,respectively.A highly significant positive correlation was observed between whole plant root activity and root dry weight, R=0.98,and a significant positive correlation was observed between whole plant root activity and the underground fresh weight, R=0.89.