In cereal-livestock farming systems of North Africa and West Asia the straw of durum wheat [Triticum turgidum (L.) Thell. ssp. turgidum conv. durum (Desf.) MacKey] is frequently used for feeding animals during the dry season and may enhance the sustainability and the flexibility of farming in various respects. In Algeria the average sale price per unit weight of the durum straw is around 30% of that of grain. Six tall and 18 semi-dwarf locally well-adapted cultivars were grown in the season 2000/01 at five Algerian locations representing the main durum wheat cropping areas to verify: (i) the impact of straw yield on the economic merit of cultivars for recommendation and (ii) the interest of tall v. semi-dwarf plant types for breeding. The tall material comprised four cultivars derived from local landraces and two old varieties. The semi-dwarf germplasm originated from CIMMYT, ICARDA or various Mediterranean countries. In the economic assessment the straw value was expressed in terms of grain-equivalent, defining an economic yield as: grain yield+(0·30×straw yield). The merit of individual cultivars was markedly affected by ignoring or taking into account the straw yield. On average, tall germplasm had a moderate (about 3%) but significant (P<0·02) economic advantage over semi-dwarf material as a result of much higher straw yield (+25%) and aerial biomass (+12%) and somewhat lower grain yield (−7%). However, three semi-dwarf varieties from CIMMYT were top-ranking for economic yield. They possessed outstanding aerial biomass and similar harvest index compared with the mean response of other semi-dwarf germplasm. On average, the tall germplasm showed higher grain yield stability (P<0·01), lower straw yield stability (P<0·01) and slightly higher stability of economic yield (P<0·11) than the semi-dwarf group as measured by Shukla's stability variance. Grain yield was negatively correlated with straw yield (r=−0·41, P<0·05), and was not correlated with aerial biomass, in the whole set of cultivars. However, it was not correlated with straw yield, and was positively correlated with aerial biomass (r=0·61, P<0·01), within the semi-dwarf germplasm. Information on straw yield can improve the targeting of cultivars for cereal-livestock farming systems. Breeding for these systems may target either a tall type within semi-dwarf material (i.e. a ‘tall dwarf’), or a truly tall plant type.