Ash content was determined by the procedure described in AOAC using 5 g of the dried mycelia (AOAC, 1984). The metal ions were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin
Elmer model 2380) using air-acetylene flame and specific hollow cathode lamp after refluxing 2 mg of the sample with conc. HNO3 and 70% HClO4 (1:1) for 30 min.