Abstract Eggplant ( Solanum melongena L.) is a high-value crop with important nutritional and economic roles in tropical agriculture. However, its production faces challenges due to the escalating cost of conventional planting media such as cocopeat and the urgent need for more sustainable input alternatives. This study evaluated the agronomic and economic performance of alternative media like cocopeat blended with boiler ash, rice husk ash, and chimney ash combined with monosodium glutamate (MS