Comparative diversity analysis of halophiles at two polar saltern systems in Indramayu, West Java, Indonesia

Successive microbes in solar salt ponds are essential since it is well correlated with the quality of salt produced. This research aimed to analyse the microbial diversity of the solar salt ponds in Indonesia, which use high‐density polyethylene in the ponds. There are two systems, that is, an integrated open system (In‐system) and a closed system (Tt‐system). The In‐system uses seawater while the Tt‐system uses seawater from the saline artesian well. Results showed that the In‐system had richer microbes than the Tt‐system. Both systems shared similar halophilic microbes profile. Ponds with low salinity (3–4 Be) had very low archaea, that is, 0·2 and 0·7% for the In‐system and Tt‐system respectively and were dominantly inhabited by phylum Proteobacteria. In the pond with high salinity, that is, 25 Be, both systems were dominated by the phylum Euryarchaeota, family Halobacteriaceae, and genera Halorubrum was dominantly found in In25 ponds and Tt25 ponds. Even though the two systems use the same parent seawater, that is, the Java Sea and share similar microbial composition at the phylum level, we found the dominance identified microbes in both systems were different. Significance and Impact of the Study: The salt quality produced in the solar salt system is suspected to be affected by halophilic microbes, especially in the crystalization pond. Seawater as raw material and the environment of the ponds dictated microbial diversity of the ponds. This study compared diversity analysis on two system solar salt ponds, which are different in the way of obtaining seawater as the raw material.