BEHAVIOR OF THE DETRIMENTAL MICROORGANISMS FOR THE SOLAR SALT PRODUCTION IN THE PRESENCE OF A HEALTHFUL POPULATION OF BRINE SHRIMP IN THE ISYSA SOLAR SALTWORKS

摘要

One of the main characteristics of the brines that feed the solar salt production system in the facilitieson ISYSA is the brine that comes from the Rio Lagartos Estuary, where the high productivity is one ofthe inherent characteristics of this type of coastal ecosystems. The development and interrelation ofthese microorganisms comprise the beginning of our production system and give to sustenance tomajors organisms as fish and coastal birds in the first stages of brine evaporation. The diversity ofmicroorganisms is very interesting at the beginning of the system where the brine concentrationinitiates the differentiation and selection of resistant organisms to these particular conditions.In the system two great groups of microorganisms are developed, one of them in the column of brine(plankton) and another one in the floors or bottoms of pools (benthos). Both groups interrelate givingas a result the different conditions of health of the salt ponds.Many of these microorganisms play an important role in the system, modifying the structure ofnutrients that is in suspension in the brine, because are organisms that "catch" the nutrients that favorthe growth of some others that by bis metabolic characteristics detriment the quality of the productionbrine.The Aphanotehce halophytica microalgae is an indicating organism of the quality of the brines and thatin favorable conditions of growth forms mucilage that aggravates the optimal conditions for the saltproduction.Another one of the organisms most common in salt ponds that regulates the development of manymicroorganisms is the Brine Shrimp or Artemia. The Artemia is a little crustacean whose maximumdevelopment occurs in hyper-salinity systems, and in favorable conditions it reproduces continuouslyand constantly feeds on small organic and inorganic particles that are suspended in the brine column,basically microalgae's.In the particular case of ISYSA, the adverse meteorological conditions (hurricanes) have caused thetotal losses of the populations of Artemia in the salt ponds, which has taken to ISYSA to reproduce thisorganism at laboratory level for its inoculation directly in the ponds and restoration of the biologicalsaline system.The Artemia in all the worldwide Saltworks has an excellent importance like fundamental part in thebalance of the saline ecosystem. The populations of this small organism can be affected themselves bydiverse variations in the conditions where it is developed and that can be from an increase in thesalinity, the depredation by major organisms (fishes fundamentally), an excess of microorganisms thatcompetes by the little quantities of dissolved oxygen in the brine, etc. Another important factor in thepopulation movements of Artemia is the flow of brines towards the crystallizers ponds, losing animportant amount of artemias mainly during the salt harvest season.By this, the Artemia production in the ISYSA's laboratory, is inoculate continuously in evaporationponds where the physical conditions (salinity and temperature) are optimal for the good developmentand reproduction.The weekly monitoring of the salt ponds to evaluate the behavior of Aphanothece halophytica andother important microorganisms as Aphanocapsia and Dactiloccocopsis allows defining the actions forthe inoculations of Artemia. The populations of Artemia stay always constant by means of theinoculation program that occupies practically all the year.The behavior of the populations of Aphanothece halophytica has been modified in the diminution oforganisms (# org. X 106/ml) mainly in the central area of the salt production system, where thepopulations of Artemia maintain a healthful level with an average of 50 organisms per liter.As a result of this natural control, the brines that reach the crystallizers has a good quality with aminimum of organic matter.