Durum wheat is a strategic crop in Syria produced in high quantities and used mainly for the production of Arabic bread, bulgur and pasta. This investigation is the first known systematic study relating the grain quality of nine domestic cultivars to milling performance and pasta quality in order to map the Syrian dururn wheat characteristics onto the world market requirementsa nd henced eterminet he potential export developmentF. urthermore,i t examinest he influenceo f environment,g enotypea nd their interactiono n the physiochemicacl haracteristicso f five dururnw heat cultivars grown in five different locations under rainfed and irrigated conditions in Syria. AACC standardm ethodsw ere principally usedi n this investigation. Despitet he soundnesso f grainsr evealedb y elevatedt est weight (83.1-85.9k ghl*'), 1000k ernel weight (42.50-55.0g ) and falling number (433-597s ec), it is necessary to improve the kernel quality of Syrian durum wheat for the degree of vitreousness and total protein content (average quality data were 65% and 12.6% respectively) for better end-use product quality. In addition, irrigation demonstrated a significant effect on kernel quality traits, for example, irrigated samples showed the highest test weights. The importance of three physiochermical markers, namely total protein content, the degree of vitreousness and kernel hardness was substantiated and presented useful indicators for future development in Syrian durum wheat breeding programmes. Optimum cooking time of pasta and cooked pasta firmness correlated significantly with final viscosity (r = 0.51,0.73), dough development time (r = 0.69 and 0.63) and R., " (r = -0.64, -0.43) which indicated that RVA, farinograph and extensograph techniques were useful indicators of the cooking properties of pasta. Overall, this study revealed that to achieve the aim of improving the domestic production and expanding the potential export of durum wheat crop in Syria, both genetic and agronomic improvements are still required.