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Cockroach Digestive System Short Notes

In this article we will discuss about the cockroach digestive system

Cockroach Digestive System

Cockroach digestive system is responsible for digestion &absorption of food
Cockroach digestive system includes alimentary canal and digestive glands

Alimentary canal

The alimentary canal has been divided into three main regions: fore gut, mid gut and hind gut

Foregut (stomodeum)

Starts from mouth, ending in gizzard & it’s lined internally by cuticle
Mouth is ventral in position and surrounded by mouth parts
Pharynx is short tube, opening into the oesophagus.
Oesophagus ending in crop
Crop is the largest part of foregut & serve as a reservoir for storing food
Gizzard has outer thick circular muscles and thick inner six chitinous plate called teeth.
Gizzard helps in grinding the food particles.
Gizzard open in mid gut by stomodial valve

Mid gut or mesenteron

It’s not lined by cuticle
4 pairs of tubules are seen at the junction of foregut and mid gut
Gastric caeca secrete digestive juice
Midgut forms the true stomach serving mainly for digestion and absorption

Hind gut or proctodaeum

It’s broader than mid gut and lined internally by cuticle
Thin tubules attached at the junction of hind gut and mid gut called malpighian tubules
Malphigian tubules help in removal of excretory products from haemolymph
Hind gut differentiated into ileum, colon and rectum
The rectum opens out through anus

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Digestive gland

Digestive glands includes salivary glands, the inner lining of mid gut and hepatic caeca

Salivary glands

Pair of salivary glands lies one on each side of the thoracic cavity
Salivary ducts of two sides unite to form a common duct
These common duct open into the pharynx and near the base of hypopharynx

Hepatic caeca

6-8 small and tubular, finger like blind tubules called hepatic caeca
They project freely into the heamocoel from the anterior part of mesenteron
They secrete digestive juice

Glands of the midgut

The cells of the lining epithelium of the midgut secrete digestive enzymes

How digestive system works in cockroach?

Start from mouth, food comes in contact with saliva and passes through the oesophagus into the crop
Enzymes of saliva act upon the food till it reaches the crop. Digestion of carbohydrate takes place
Hepatic caeca release digestive juice in crop. Most of digestion occur in the crop.
Food thoroughly grinded into a paste by gizzard
Grinded food enter into midgut through stomodial valve
Digestion completes in the anterior part of midgut
Absorption of digested food mainly occurs in mid gut
Distribution of digested food by heamocoelomic fluid
Undigested food enter into the ileum
Maximum absorption of H2O occurred in rectum by rectal papilla
Undigested food passes out from the body via the anus

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