Response of Gazania plants (Gazania splendens L.) to spraying with potassium and nano-zinc

This study looked at how spraying with potassium (P) and nano-zinc (Z) affected the growth and flowering characteristics of Gazania plants during the 2025 growing season in a protected environment. Two factors were investigated during the experiment: the spraying of potassium (P) at three doses of 0, 150, and 300 mg L-1 and nano-zinc (Z) at four concentrations of 0, 20, 40, and 60 mg L-1. The findings indicated that spraying with of potassium, especially at concentration (300 mg L-1) contributed to achieving the best results for all vegetative and flowering growth traits (height of plant, number of leaves, the dry weight of vegetative growth, number of off springs, number of flowers, diameter of flower, fresh weight of flower and peduncle length of flower), they were (11.24 cm, 41.27 leaf plant-1, 7.24 g, 7.56 off spring plant-1, 5.39 flower plant-1, 8.35 cm, 1.93 g and 8.53 cm), respectively. Spraying with nano-zinc reached significant impact, especially (40 mg L-1) concentration, which provided the highest values for the traits (height of plant, number of leaves, the dry weight of vegetative growth, number of off springs, number of flowers, and peduncle length of flower), they were (11.56 cm, 40.57 leaf plant-1, 7.57 g, 7.89 off spring plant-1, 5.34 flower plant-1 and 8.51 cm), respectively. The interaction between the two factors of the study showed a significant effect on all the characteristics studied except the diameter of the flower and the fresh weight of the flower, and the effect varied according to the studied characteristic and the type of treatment.