Digestion in the crop of the fowl

Synopsis Examination of the crop contents of fowls has shown that there is extensive hydrolysis of starch to sugar and that much of the sugar formed can be lost from the crop by absorption by the crop, the action of micro‐organisms or leaching from the crop. When crop contents were incubated anaerobically, lactic and acetic acids and alcohol were produced. Examination post‐mortem of crop contents from birds with “sour crops” indicated that, in addition to the formation of lactic and acetic acids, formic, propionic and butyric acids can also be formed.