OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of exogenous methyl jasmonate on the contents of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance （gentiopicrin， swertiamain， sweroside and amarogentin） and biochemical indexes in the leaves of Gentiana rigescens， and to provide scientific evidence for the application of methyl jasmonate in standardized planting of G. rigescens. METHODS： 2， 4， 6， 8， 10 d after spraying 10， 50， 100， 200 mg/L methyl jasmonate （spraying amount was 500 mL） for G. rigescens strain， the leaves of medicinal material were collected as sample， and the other leaves without spraying methyl jasmonate were collected as control. HPLC method was used to determine the contents of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance in the leaves of G. rigescens after spraying 4 kinds of concentrations of methyl jasmonate for 10 d. The concentration of methyl jasmonate was optimized （the content of effective component was the highest）. HPLC method was adopted to determine the contents of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance in the leaves of G. rigescens after spraying the optimal concentration of methyl jasmonate for different time. The levels of relevant biochemical indexes （SOD， POD， CAT， MDA） were determined. RESULTS： 10 d after spraying 10， 50， 100， 200 mg/L methyl jasmonate for G. rigescens strains， the contents of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance in the leaves were increased to different extent. Compared with untreated leaves， 100 mg/L methyl jasmonate had the best effect after spraying， and the contents of gentiopicrin， swertiamain and sweroside in treated leaves were 1.88， 2.36 and 1.87 times of those in untreated leaves， respectively （P＜0.05）. 2， 4， 6， 8， 10 d after spraying 100 mg/L methyl jasmonate， the contents of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance in treated leaves were higher than untreated leaves at corresponding stage； the content of secoiridoid had significant difference after spraying for 4 d （P＜0.05）. The contents of active components in general were relatively high after spraying for 6 d， and the contents of gentiopicrin， swertiamain， sweroside and amarogentin in treated leaves were 1.88， 1.88， 1.47， 1.82 times of those in untreated leaves， respectively （P＜0.05）. The levels of relevant biochemical indexes in treated leaves were increased significantly since 4 d of spraying， compared with untreated leaves （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS： After spraying 100 mg/L methyl jasmonate for 6 d， the contents increase of 4 kinds of secoiridoid substance in the leaves of G. rigescens are most obvious， which may be associated with improving the levels of related biochemical indexes.