Crop (anatomy)
A crop is an enlarged section of the digestive tract that temporarily stores food before it passes onward for digestion.
Peristalsis: Wave-like contractions of smooth muscle that move contents through a tubular organ. Muscular contractions move food into and out of the crop.
Digestive system: The organs and processes that take in food, break it down, absorb nutrients, and eliminate waste. A crop is one specialized storage organ within this broader system.
Chicken: A domesticated fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, raised worldwide for meat and eggs. Its crop temporarily stores feed and can become visibly full after eating.
Rumen: The largest chamber of a ruminant's stomach, where microbes ferment plant material. Both can hold food before further processing, but the rumen is a major fermentation chamber.
Gizzard: A muscular organ in some animals that mechanically grinds food, often with swallowed grit. In birds, food stored in the crop can pass onward to the gizzard for grinding.
Stomach: A muscular digestive organ that mixes food with secretions and begins or continues its chemical breakdown. Unlike a stomach, a crop primarily holds food rather than digesting it.
Pigeon: A bird in the family Columbidae, including the domestic pigeon and its wild relatives. Pigeons have a crop that produces nutrient-rich crop milk for their young.
Cheek pouch: An expandable pocket inside the cheek used by some mammals to carry food or other material. It stores food in the mouth rather than in the digestive tract.
Esophagus: A muscular tube that carries swallowed food from the mouth toward the stomach. The crop is an enlarged region of the esophagus in many animals.
Intestine: The digestive tract region where digestion continues and nutrients and water are absorbed. Food leaves the crop and eventually reaches the intestine for digestion and absorption.