Poultry digestion

Question 1

Beak

Answer 1

designed for food acquisition but not mastication.

Question 2

crop

Answer 2

large evagination of the esophagus designed for food storage. some species will regurgitate food from the crop to feed their young or the crop will shed cells to form a “crop milk” for their young.

Question 3

proventriculus

Answer 3

glandular stomach, adds HCl and pepsin to the ingested food. chemical digestion of protein begins here.

Question 4

gizzard

Answer 4

primary site for mechanical digestion in birds. substitute for teeth. many birds swallow small stones that become lodged in the gizzard. the gizzard has a very muscular wall that undergoes rhythmic contractions, forcefully mixing ingested food material with the stones resulting in smaller feed particles. lined with a layer of keratin to protect the wall from stomach acid, enzymes and the stones.

Question 5

small intestine

Answer 5

similar to monogastrics, pancreatic enzymes and bile added to complete the digestion of starch, fat and protein.

Question 6

Large intestine

Answer 6

most birds have 2 ceca. microbial digestion occurs here. not a major source of digestion in chickens. the terminal portion of the large intestine is the cloaca, the collecting area for waste products. waste leaves the animal through the vent.