Phytotherapeutics: As anticipating substitutes to synthetic drugs in combating antinematicidal-resistant gastrointestinal nematodes of small ruminants

Abstract

It has been narrated and postulated that various plants were utilized as therapeutic agents for the first time by the distinct primate "Neanderthal" (Homo neanderthalensis) between 60,000-80,000 years BC in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Agelarakis, 1993; Sommer, 1999; Hamad, 2012). Records attribute the use of medicinal plants to prehistoric Mesopotamian Civilizations (land between the two rivers of Tigris and Euphrates), in particular the Sumerians who dwelt modern over 5,000 years ago (Levetin and McMahon, 2003). It is noteworthy to mention that exploitation of herbal remedies was practiced by Chinese herbalists (Ergil et al., 2002) and Indian botanists (Aggarwal et al., 2007) around 2700 BC and 1900 BC, respectively. Ancient Greeks and Romans as well as Muslim scientists have also contributed to the use of phytomedicines (Iqbal et al., 2001). The recent decades have witnessed a distinct development in herbology by employing modern pharmacological techniques