Crop Disorders of Chickens II: Ingluvitis

Ingluvitis (pendulous or sour crop). Causes andpossible solutions.

IntroductionThe crop is an enlarged part of the esophagus located to theright of the trachea at the thoracic inlet. The walls of the cropare thin, and the organ is attached to the skin and clavicle byloose connective tissue. There are 2 muscles that support thecrop and aid in the emptying process. The main function of thecrop is to store feed while the proventriculus and gizzard arefull of feed. Shortly after the feed is ingested, it is normal forthe crop to be distended and full of feed. As the feed in thegizzard is moved into the intestine, the crop begins to contract,emptying its content into the esophagus and supplying morefeed to the proventriculus and gizzard.

Sour crop is similar to crop impaction except the cropbecomes enlarged with soft, dough-like material andfoul-smelling fluid. The crop wall becomes thickened, thewalls are stretched and the crop loses the ability to go backinto its original size when empty (Pictures 1 and 2). The resultis that the crop does not empty normally, and the contentsbecome overgrown with harmful bacteria and yeast. Candidaalbicans is the yeast that typically overgrows. This yeast willoften invade the wall of the crop and cause inflammation andwhite cheese-like patches on the interior lining. Thiscondition is called "crop mycosis".

Picture 1. Lateral view of a broiler chicken with pendulous crop.Picture credit. Dr. I. Rojas.

Page 2 Crop Disorders of Chickens II: Ingluvitis

Picture 2. Ventral view of a broiler chicken presentingpendulous crop. Picture credit. Dr. I. Rojas.

OccurrenceCrop mycosis may occur when birds eat spoiled feed or drinkslimy, unclean water. It is also seen in young birds that arebrooded under very hot conditions and drink excessiveamounts of water. Lastly, crop mycosis can result when birdsare treated for a long time with antibiotics and/or have otherunderlying disease problems.

TreatmentYou can treat the infection (crop mycosis) by adding iodine oracidified copper sulfate to the drinking water as per labeldirections for 3 to 5 days. Be sure to keep waterers clean andfree of slime. If the crop is very large or dilated, to aid normalpassage of food and water some people have resorted to theuse of a crop "bra". A simple crop bra can be fashioned from atube sock with both ends open and openings made for thewings. There are also "birdy bras" available commercially forpet birds suffering this condition.

Differential diagnosisPoor crop emptying can have other causes besides impactionor primary bacterial or fungal disease. Marek's disease oftencauses polyneuritis which may damage the vagal innervationof the crop. Usually, there will be additional neurologicalsigns in affected animals that will help differentiate primarycrop stasis. Obstruction/impaction of the lower gastrointestinaltract due to roughage, foreign bodies or even tumors may alsoresult in poor crop emptying. Parasitic ingluvitis due toinfections with Capillaria species nematodes, protozoalinfections such as trichomoniasis may also occur. Obtaining acrop fluid aspirate and examining the fluid microscopicallywill often help differentiate parasitic versus fungal cropinfections. It is also advisable to do fecal examination to checkfor capillaria ova. Treatment of sour crop is dependent on thecause.

References• Avian Diseases Manual. 7 th ed. The American

Association of Avian Pathologists.

• Kiero■czyk, B., M. Rawsky, J. Dlogosz, S.■wiatkiewicz, D. Józefiak. 2016. Avian Crop Function-A review. Ann. Anim. Sci. 16(3):1-26.

• Diseases of Poultry, 13thed. AAAP. Whiley-Blackwell.

AuthorsGino LorenzoniAssistant Professor, Poultry Science and Avian Healthagl20@psu.edu814-863-7302

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