The high requirements imposed by modern pasta processing enterprises on the grain quality of both spring and winter Triticum durum dictate the necessity to develop new methods, approaches for estimating breeding material and selecting high-quality genotypes. Correlation analysis, which makes it possible to identify practically positive and negative factors, minimize the most unfavorable ones, accelerate, and increase the efficiency of the breeding process, is one of them.The purpose of the current work was to study the correlation between quality traits of winter durum wheat and to determine the most accessible and informative ones as selection criteria in the breeding process.The field and laboratory (determination of grain quality parameters, rheological properties of dough and pasta) study was carried out on the basis of the FSBSI “ARC “Donskoy”, from 2014 to 2020. The material for the study were the varieties and lines of Competitive Variety Testing (n = 35).There have been presented the analysis results of a correlation between quality traits of kernels, hard semolina, pasta of winter durum wheat. There have been identified the most accessible, informative and significant traits, such as protein percentage, gluten quality (GDI), alpha-amylase (FN) activity, which have a decisive effect on the strength, cooking properties of pasta, rheological properties of the dough, which can be used as selection criteria in the breeding process, including at the early stages. Thus, protein percentage has positively correlated with pasta strength (r = 0.73), dough durability and elasticity (r = 0.86 and r = 0.61), valorimetric estimation (r = 0.55); GDI and FN have correlated with pasta strength (r = 0.69 and r = 0.57), durability (r = 0.92 and r = 0.57), elasticity (r = 0.75 and r = 0.50). The correlation between cooking properties of pasta and the above-mentioned traits was negative (positive correlation): digestibility by weight and volume with protein percentage (r = –0.60 and r = –0.71), GDI (r = –0.49 and r = 0.47), FN (r = –0.48 and r = –0.56), dry matter losses, respectively, r = –0.87, r =–0.85, r = –0.78. The content of carotenoids and the color of pasta are characterized with a mean positive correlation (r = 0.46). There has been found that informatively significant quality traits (protein, GDI, FN, carotenoids) are positively correlated with each other from moderate (protein with carotenoids r = 0.36) to strong (protein with FN r = 0.94) links, but negatively with such important parameters for winter durum wheat as 1000-kernel weight and grain unit. Therefore, when selecting breeding forms and lines with increased values of the main traits, it is necessary to control 1000-kernel weight and grain unit, or at least one of them.
