Current agriculture is facing the global challenge of being productive, efficient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly [
1]. Food production is affected by plant diseases and insect pests, causing millions of losses and jeopardizing food security [
2]. To date, plant protection has depended on synthetic pesticides, resulting in a number of direct negative effects on farmer and consumer health, soil erosion, water quality, and a number of associated problems, such as the emergence of pest resistance. In this context, there has been an increase in research, development, and application of biopesticides because of their efficacy, harmlessness to the population and environment, and target-specific properties [
3,
4]. Additionally, there is an increase in the demand for food safety, product quality, and stricter pesticide regulations, making the search for new biopesticides a priority [
4].
Microorganisms, including endophytes, which live within the internal tissues of plants and their secondary metabolites, are a source of biopesticides [
5]. Endophytes from plant species of the genus
Bethencourtia have been reported to exhibit insect antifeedant activities [
6].
Bethencourtia, endemic to the Canary Islands, comprises three species:
B. hermosae (Pit),
B. palmensis (Nees) Choisy, and
B. rupicola (B. Nord) B. Nord. [
7].
B. palmensis contains silphinene sesquiterpenes with potent insect anti-feedant effects [
6]. Based on these results, this plant was selected for the isolation of endophytic fungi to identify secondary metabolites with biopesticidal properties. In this context, the endophyte
Aspergillus sp. SPH2 was isolated from
B. palmensis [
8]. The production of secondary compounds with biopesticidal potential is grounded in the recognition of endophytic fungi as prolific producers of compounds effective against pathogens and herbivores, also some studies have report production of compounds with antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and insect action [
9], these compounds comprises a wide range of chemical classes, including alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, peptides, polyketones, flavonoids, quinols, phenols, chlorinated compounds, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [
10]. Notably, the endophytic fungal isolate
Aspergillus sp. SPH2 has recently been shown to produce mellein and neoaspergillic acid during different stages of fermentation [
8]. Mellein is a subgroup of 3,4-dihydroisocoumarins; usually, secondary metabolites belonging to the polyketide group; with antimicrobial and phytotoxic activities [
11] and efficacy against the disease vector
Hyalomma lusitanicum ticks [
8]. Neoaspergillic acid is a siderophore [
12] with reported fungicidal activity against
Botrytis cinerea [
8]. Therefore, optimization of the fermentation conditions for the production of these metabolites could increase the potential for the development of bio-based pesticides.
Considering that the morphology of the fungus in submerged media affects its productivity, semi-solid-state fermentation, in which the fungus grows in a biofilm, allows the production of secondary metabolites in high quantities [
13,
14]. One optimization approach includes techniques that interfere with the formation of fungal conglomerates, causing the pellets to be smaller, less dense, or even the mycelium to be dispersed in the culture medium [
15], leading to more efficient substrate consumption, much greater oxygen transfer, and increased productivity of the fungus. The most widely used technique is microparticle-enhanced cultivation (MPEC) using talcum powder or aluminum oxide [
16]. The media may be rich in nutrients and optimally aerated, but the cells inside the sphere are stressed by limitations in the exchange of oxygen and nutrients [
17] because effective growth occurs exclusively on the surface of the mycelium aggregate.
In this work, the application of talcum powder as an MPEC method as well as the addition of a metallic mesh to the culture medium as an SSF method have been evaluated to observe changes in the production of mellein, aspergillic, neohydroxyaspergillic, and neoaspergillic acids by the endophyte Aspergillus sp. SPH2.