Compare the mascularity of the crop and the grizzard in a gr

Compare the mascularity of the crop and the grizzard in a grasshopper

Solution

The foregut part of the gastro-intestinal tract of a grasshopper comprises of crop and gizzard. The functions and differences in muscularity of these organs can be discussed as below:

CROP: The crop resembles the stomach in higher organisms. The oral cavity of the grasshopper enlarges into a duct which carries food into the stomach. The stomach or the crop is a thin-walled sac which collects all the food items ingested. It is poorly muscularized in nature and no mechanical or enzymatic digestion of food takes place in it. The food items are only collected and properly mixed with the salivary enzymes secreted by the salivary glands located besides the crop.

GIZZARD: The gizzard is a highly muscularized organ which actually processes the mecahnical and enzymatic churning of the food. It contains internal linings of muscularized muscles in zig-zag manner which help in digestion of food. Due to zig-zag linings, the internal surface area of the gizzard increases and better digestion of food takes place. Since the gizzard\'s muscular walls are composed of chitinous constituents, they are capable of digesting even very hard materials such as tree spikes, leaves, exoskeleton of insects etc.