  Zinc in stars is an important reference element because it is a proxy to Fe
in studies of damped Lyman-alpha systems, permitting a comparison of chemical
evolution histories of bulge stellar populations and DLAs. In terms of
nucleosynthesis, it behaves as an alpha element because it is enhanced in
metal-poor stars. The aim of this work is to derive the iron-peak element Zn
abundances in 56 bulge giants from high resolution spectra. These results are
compared with data from other bulge samples, as well as from disk and halo
stars, and damped Lyman-alpha systems, in order to better understand the
chemical evolution in these environments. High-resolution spectra were obtained
using FLAMES+UVES on the Very Large Telescope. We find [Zn/Fe]=+0.24+-0.02 in
the range -1.3 < [Fe/H] < -0.5 and [Zn/Fe]=+0.06+-0.02 in the range -0.5 <
[Fe/H] < -0.1, whereas for [Fe/H] > -0.1, it shows a spread of -0.60 < [Zn/Fe]
< +0.15, with most of these stars having low [Zn/Fe]<0.0. These low zinc
abundances at the high metallicity end of the bulge define a decreasing trend
in [Zn/Fe] with increasing metallicities. A comparison with Zn abundances in
DLA systems is presented, where a dust-depletion correction was applied for
both Zn and Fe. Finally, we present a chemical evolution model of Zn enrichment
in massive spheroids, representing a typical classical bulge.

Astrophysics of Galaxies