Question:- Explain Nutrition in
grasshopper (or cockroach).
Answer:- Grasshopper
(or cockroach) is a multicellular organism. So, in grasshopper (or cockroach)
the different processes of nutrition takes place in fully developed digestive
system. The
digestive system is a system of organs and glands concerned with obtaining,
digesting and absorbing nutrients from food. The digestive system of grasshopper (or
cockroach) is divided into three parts:
1) Foregut
2) Midgut
3) Hindgut
Foregut
The foregut of grasshopper (or
cockroach) consists of following organs: mouth, oesophagus or food pipe, crop
and gizzard.
Midgut
The
midgut of grasshopper (or cockroach) consists of stomach and ileum.
Hindgut
After discussing the digestive system
let’s now discuss the different processes of nutrition in grasshopper.
1. Ingestion
In grasshopper (or cockroach)
food is ingested through the mouth with the help of forelegs and mouth parts.
2. Digestion
In
grasshopper (or cockroach) the digestion of food starts in the mouth, where the
saliva secreted by salivary glands mixes with the ingested food. The saliva
contains some enzymes which digest starch present in the food. Saliva also
helps in lubrication and softening of food. This partially digested food passes
through the oesophagus into crop where it is stored temporarily. Then, the food
passes into gizzard. Here, the food is finely ground by tough walls of gizzard.
From gizzard, the food goes into stomach. In the stomach, the enzymes secreted
by elongated glands called hepatic caeca get mixed with the food to digest it
completely.
3. Absorption
The
digested food is then absorbed by the walls of ileum when the digested good
passes from the stomach into ileum.
4. Assimilation
The
food absorbed by the walls of ileum is then supplied to all the parts of
grasshopper (or cockroach) and is used to obtain energy, as well as for growth
and repair of the body.
5. Egestion
The
food not digested by grasshopper (or cockroach) goes from ileum to colon. Here
water is absorbed from it. Finally, the undigested food is temporarily stored
in the rectum. From the rectum the undigested food is removed out of the body
through anus.