PEG-6000 was used to imitate the drought stress,and under 23% PEG-6000 the effects of exogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and methyl jasmonic acid (MeJA) pretreatment at five concentrations of 0.025,0.25,2.5,25,250 μmol/L were measured on seed germination,seedling growth,water content,root activity,proline content,and the effects of oxidative damage in cotton cultivar ‘Xinluzao 17’.The results indicated that:(1)The seed germination rate,germination potentiality,germination index,and vigor index were all improved with pretreatment by a certain concentration of JA and MeJA.The seed germination rate and germination potentiality were significantly increased by 49.99% and 72.70% with 2.5 μmol/L MeJA pretreatment.While seed germination index and vigor index by using 0.025 μmol/L JA pretreatment was increased by 68.14% and 190.29% in compared with the control group.The root activity reached the maxima by using 2.5 μmol/L JA and its level was higher 266.68% than the control.(2)Both JA and MeJA pretreatment were able to significantly increased proline content and reduced MDA content under drought stress in the seedling.The results demonstrated that JA and MeJA in a certain concentration could effectively mitigate inhibitory effect under drought stress and improve the cotton seed germination and seedling growth.In general,the ability for alleviation to drought stress by MeJA pretreatment was better than JA.0.025 μmol/L JA was the optimum pretreatment concentration for seed germination, while 0.25 and 2.5 μmol/L JA were the optimum pretreatment concentration for seedling growth under drought stress,and for MeJA,the optimum pretreatment concentration was 2.5 μmol/L for both seed germination and seedling growth,which provided the scientific basis for agricultural production.